Making Fiends is an American flash animated web series created by Amy Winfrey. It follows the interactions between Vendetta, a villainous tomboy that regularly makes terrible creatures called "fiends", and Charlotte, a cheerful and gullible girly-girl who thinks that Vendetta is her best friend. Charlotte unintentionally irritates and annoys Vendetta. As a result, Vendetta attempts to assassinate her with fiends, but she always fails due to 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. In 2004, the series was licensed by Nickelodeon, and eventually the episodes were broadcast on TurboNick. The series would later be uploaded to Amy Winfrey's YouTube page in 2012, re-rendered in HD widescreen. A 20-minute animated horror comedy cartoon television series was greenlit in 2008 on Nicktoons, which aired only 6 episodes (each consisting of 3 segments) before being canceled. Nickelodeon Animation Studio, Cyber Chicken Animation Studio and DQ Entertainment Limited produced the TV series.

Characters

  • Vendetta: (Voiced by Aglaia Mortcheva) Vendetta is a sociopathic, narcissistic and histrionic young tomboy 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. 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. She despises music, to the point of being hurt by it. Her diet consists of almost entirely beef jerky, clams, and grape punch. She speaks in a thick Bulgarian accent and has somewhat broken English. Vendetta appeared in every episode except for episode 14.
  • Charlotte: (Voiced by Amy Winfrey) A light-blue, optimistic girly-girl from Vermont. 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 pet 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 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. He has a tenor singing voice. and gave her a musical toy bear, which angered Vendetta and let her to abandonment.
  • 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.

| OriginalAirDate =

| ShortSummary = It's Charlotte's first day at her new school. Immediately, she comes across the giant fiend cat, but is fascinated rather than scared. She walks into her new classroom and meets Vendetta and Grudge. Charlotte wants to be friends with Vendetta, but the other girl despises her and wants her gone. Charlotte is completely oblivious to this and remains so for the rest of the series.

| LineColor = B6000C

Season 2 (2004–05)

Extras and specials (2003–15)

Games

  • Halloween Treat (Released October 25th, 2004)

A flash game that is put on the website on Halloween (web series style.) 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 on Nick.com). 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. The maximum is 30 and there are different end screens depending on how many pumpkins you throw at Charlotte.

DVD releases

The Season One DVD was first shipped out on December 10, 2004.

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%;"

| colspan="5" style="background:#544b42;"| <span style="color:white;">Season One</span>

|- style="vertical-align:top; text-align:center;"

| style="width:250px;" colspan="3"| Set Details

| style="width:550px; "|Special Features

|- valign="top"

| colspan="3" style="text-align:left; width:300px;"|

  • 10 episodes
  • 1-disc set (DVD)
  • 1.33:1 aspect ratio
  • Languages:
  • English (With subtitles)
  • French ("Vegetables")
  • Mandarin ("A Fiendish Friend")
  • Japanese ("Halloween")

| rowspan="4" style="text-align:left; width:300px;"|

  • Optional commentaries for 4 episodes
  • "Charlotte's First Day Part 1: New Student" (with Charlotte and Vendetta)
  • "Charlotte's First Day Part 2: Show and Tell" (with Marion)
  • "Shrinking Charlotte" (with Vendetta and Grudge)
  • "Substitute Teacher" (with Mr. Milk)
  • "Kitty Kitty Kitty" audio replaced with a computerized speech simulator
  • "Birthday" can be played with Pig Latin Subtitles
  • "Eaten Part 1: Pet Sitting" is narrated by Big Bunny
  • Fiendish Sketches (Fiendish Beginnings & Episode Tidbits)
  • Making of Making Fiends Featurette
  • The Christmas Bonus Shorts

|-

|}

The Season Two DVD was first shipped out on December 14, 2005.

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%;"

| colspan="5" style="background:#544b42;"| <span style="color:white;">Season Two</span>

|- style="vertical-align:top; text-align:center;"

| style="width:250px;" colspan="3"| Set Details

| style="width:550px; "|Special Features

|- valign="top"

| colspan="3" style="text-align:left; width:300px;"|

  • 10 episodes
  • 1-disc set (DVD)
  • 1.33:1 aspect ratio
  • Languages:
  • English (With subtitles)
  • Bulgarian ("April Fool's")

| rowspan="4" style="text-align:left; width:300px;"|

  • "Eaten Part 2: No More Charlotte" has the main characters with beards
  • "Election" has a Patriotic Version that has stars and the American Flag in the background and Mr. Milk dressed as the Statue of Liberty
  • "Invisible" has an Extra Invisible version that has the main characters (sans Charlotte) completely invisible except their facial features
  • "Wonderful Wintry Day" has the characters in fancy clothes
  • "Valentine's Day" has a Super Pretty Version! where there are different colors for both the cast and backgrounds
  • "Rainy Day Schedule" replaces the rain with snow and the word "Rain" is replaced with a robotic tone saying "Snow"/"Snowy"
  • "Rubella" redesigns the characters as muffins
  • "Concrete Shoes" replaces the normal backgrounds with pictures from France
  • "The End of All Things" has an alternate ending with Vendetta moving to Florida and never seeing Charlotte again.
  • Playable Halloween Game
  • Fiendish Sketches

|-

|}

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".

See also

  • Amy Winfrey
  • Lenore, the Cute Little Dead Girl
  • Salad Fingers
  • TV series
  • List of characters

References

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