Toralei Stripe

"Who's ever heard of a catfish?!"

- Toralei Stripe in "Great Scarrier Reef"

Toralei Stripe is a 2011-introduced and all-around character. She is a werecat and a student at Monster High. Her best friends in life, to the point that they, for all intents and purposes are sisters, are Meowlody and Purrsephone. Toralei usually functions as the leader of their group and together the trio are some of the worst causers of trouble at the school. Toralei is a definite mean girl, who delights in bringing others misery, but she also has a soft spot for those in need, finding no satisfaction in bringing down someone who already is down. It is in this crucial way she differs from her pseudo-friend Nefera de Nile. Many of Toralei's acts are a form of revenge, even if she is the party that is wrong. She is easily hurt when people so much as imply they don't want to associate with her and her retaliation often vastly outweighs the slight. Toralei is currently in a relationship with Rocco.

Portrayers
In the English cartoon, Toralei is voiced by America Young.

In the Latin American version, she´s voiced by Diana Jaramillo in volume 2, and by Analiz Sánchez since volume 3.

Personality
She has a cat-like attitude, and is self-assured, with a touch of a sarcastic purr. In "Scream Building", she stands up for the fearleaders when Cleo critiques them, but it seems like it was more about taking Cleo down a peg. She is an opportunist and a manipulator, whose clique of followers never speak for themselves and do her bidding. She causes a lot of trouble for the ghouls, whether it's by revealing their secret routine to their fearleading rivals, texting rumors about them or spreading dissent by playing to people's insecurities.

However, she shows a softer side to people in need of help, such as a troll named Teala, and Cleo de Nile when she was new to fearleading. In light of this, in the cartoon she did actually do Lagoona a favor by forcing Gil to admit he lied and finally confront his parents about their judgmental views on salt monsters.

She is also willing to cooperate with other monsters, even those she dislikes, on occasion. For instance, Toralei plays on sports teams with the main ghouls in "Join the Scream", and shows very little animosity toward them, demonstrating good sportsmanship and even enjoying the experience (though she opted not to join permanently, as she "isn't much of a joiner"). She also helps with the fundraiser in the Freak du Chic webisodes, performing as a tightrope walker.

Toralei also proved in "Monster Mashionals Part 2" that, while she is scheming and manipulating, she is also honest. While she will always do her best to come out on top, she feels that victory is pointless if it is earned by cheating.

Torelai is also shown as athletic, as seen in the webisode "Join the Scream".

Appearance
Toralei has orange skin (or fur), with a darker orange spot around her eye. She has dark orange tiger stripes running up her right arm and left leg and four on her face. She sports an asymmetrical bobbed hairdo, with her bangs being longer than her actual hair, with a tiger stripe running down it. She has green eyes, and her pupils are catlike slits.

Abilities
Toralei is a cat creature, and therefore holds many abilities that she shares with the actual feline.
 * Voice Impersionation: Toralei has the ability to mimic voices with ease, which she uses in her mischief.
 * Feline Instincts: Toralei will at times be compelled by certain cat-like instincts, which can or not be an ability at times, including extending or retrcating claws and fear canines.
 * Agility: As a werecat, Toralei has an increased agility and flexibility being swift and fast and always landing on her feet, which comes in handy when you're a cheerleader.

Family
According to her Campus Stroll diary, she lives in a steady household with two loving parents. Due to Toralei describing Purrsephone and Meowlody as sisters to her, it appears that she is an only child. Five older sisters are mentioned in "The Nine Lives of Toralei", but that is more than likely untrue as it was cast by Spectra for her gossip column.

Friends
Along with Toralei's introduction in "Scream Building" came the introduction of the twin cat girls Meowlody and Purrsephone, whom Toralei in her Campus Stroll diary describes to be like sisters to her. She has made enemies of many of the Monster High ghouls, declaring Cleo an enemy in "Witch Trials" after she wasn't reinstated on the squad, and causing trouble for the team during their fearleading camp and trials. In "Queen of the Scammed" she texted everyone that Cleo and the squad are going to stay over night at Monster High on Friday the 13th. But they fail when the ghouls stay overnight. One fact is for sure: she's definitely not friends with Cleo de Nile.

According from Cleo's School's Out diary reveals that Toralei and the werecat sisters are on the squad because of her older sister Nefera and is apparently still in touch with her, the diary also states that Nefera is a "cat person" which may extend their acquaintanceship.

In the webisode "The Nine Lives of Toralei", she seems to be friends with Spectra because she makes a news segment on her. At the end of the webisode, Toralei states that she loves the segment.

Romance
Toralei is in a relationship with Rocco from Granite City High. Supposedly, their mutual penchant for playing dirty if that's what it takes to win is what attracts them to each other.

Volume 3
In "Scare-born Infection" after Jackson passes the cooties to Cleo, Clawdeen tells her to pass them to Toralei. After she has the cooties, Purrsephone and Meowlody back away remarking they are supposed to be her best friends and gets sad, Frankie then ask her to give her the cooties and she passes them to her without questioning.

TV specials
In "Fright On!", Toralei was seen only at the beginning, taunting the ghouls as usual. She was later seen at the party, dancing with Dougey after stealing him from a backgrouder girl.

Toralei took her usual role of antagonist in "Why Do Ghouls Fall in Love?" after not being invited to Draculaura's Sweet 1600. She took this to heart and, after overhearing Draculaura's story about Valentine, invited him back to Monster High by using her incanny ability of mimicking. The two schemed to destroy Draculaura and Clawd's relationship, Toralei willing to go at any cost, but eventually being thwarted in the end, facing even more humiliation after the ghouls splashed mud all over her.

Toralei did not have much of a part in Escape From Skull Shores, seeing as she only was seen at the carnival, at which she fell in a pit of tar.

And, in "Ghouls Rule", Toralei did not play a main role, so to speak, but she did help her fellow students get back at the normies for what they did to the school.

In Freaky Fusion, Toralei went with the ghouls to Hexiciah Steam's lab. She activated the Time Teleporter, which throws the ghouls back in time to the year 1814. On the way back, she is fused together with Cleo, both of which were mortified.

In "Boo York, Boo York", Toralei is invited to Boo York by Nefera. Toralei assists Nefera in her scheme to get Cleo and Seth Ptolemy together. After using the broken piece of the Comet to take Seth and Catty's voice, Nefera trusted Toralei to get rid of it and Toralei agreed to the deal. But Toralei gets another idea on her way and uses the voices inside to perform on Bloodway, until the ghouls stop her and get the Comet back.

Timeline

 * February 8, 2011: Toralei Stripe makes her 2D cartoon debut in "Scream Building".
 * February 11, 2011: Toralei Stripe's first name is revealed through a tweet by her voice actor (though misspelled as Torelei).
 * April 14, 2011: Toralei Stripe's first name is confirmed through "Witch Trials".
 * May 27, 2011: Mattel requests the trademark for Toralei Stripe.
 * June, 2011: Toralei Stripe makes her diary debut in Cleo's School's Out diary and Frankie's School's Out diary.
 * July 14, 2011: Toralei Stripe's profile is published on the Monster High website.
 * July 14, 2011: Toralei Stripe's profile art is revealed.
 * July 21, 2011: Toralei Stripe's first doll is on display at San Diego Comic-Con International.
 * Early December, 2011: Toralei Stripe's first doll is released as part of the Campus Stroll series. Though the trademark is Toralei Stripe, the doll is sold as Toralei.
 * February 12, 2012: Toralei Stripe makes her 3D cartoon debut in "Why Do Ghouls Fall in Love?".
 * November 15, 2012: Mattel requests the trademark for Toralei.