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"Tell that big dumb scary face to take a hike and leave you alone and if he thinks he can scare you then he’s got another thing coming and the very idea of such a thing just makes you wanna… HAHAHAHA…heh… LAAAAAAAUUUGH!"
The heroes are walking through the dark catacombs. Is that heavy breathing? No, not wanting to imagine what could be so loathsome as to live in such a place, they dismiss it as the wind. They press on, then suddenly something terrible leaps out of the shadows and... the heroes burst into laughter.
Whether it's the Caustic Critic harping on the quality of the game's monsters, or the actual characters within a story, this trope applies any time monsters are being ridiculed.
If the monster looks stupid but the characters treat it as if it were terrifying, that's not this trope.
See also: Our Monsters Are Different, Monster Mash, Everything Is Trying to Kill You, Do Not Taunt Cthulhu, Monster of the Week.
Has nothing whatsoever to do with: He Who Fights Monsters, Talking the Monster to Death, Mugging the Monster, or Bullying a Dragon.
Examples
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Anime & Manga
- One Piece is rife with targets for this trope, constantly introducing impossibly stupid-looking monsters, only to have Luffy, as an inversion, call them really cool. Sanji tends to play the trope straight though, talking about how to cook monsters while beating them senseless.
Card Games
Literature
- In Lacuna, Liao is less than polite to the Toralii fleet that jumps in after they release the Forerunner.
Live-Action TV
Tabletop Games
- From Headinjury dot com we have the following critiques (part 1
 and part 2) of stupid Dungeons & Dragons monsters.
- For more D&D monster mockery, visit the WTF D&D!? feature at Something Awful, as it takes the piss out of the artwork in tabletop game sourcebooks, usually focusing on ridiculous monster ideas.
- Many, many PCs do this when their DM reveals a custom monster he's spent all week lovingly crafting. Not that published monsters are exempt, especially those published by 3rd party publishers.
- Lampshaded in Munchkin with the Monster The DM Made Up Himself.
- Many PCs when they encounter something that would be terrifying... about five levels ago.
- In the Pathfinder manual, before the class chapter, we are treated with Valeros saying about ogres that they "have some uglies ahead. With faces like that, no wonder they are afraid of going out during the day."
Theater
- Hamlet calls a ghost a "king of shreds and patches".
Video Games
- This trope gets its name from this Nezumiman review where, after naming this trope, the reviewers exercise it for half their review. It's also used repeatedly in this Alter Aila review and is used in this Cave Story review by the same reviewer(s).
- Pokémon Quartz has its Pokémon frequently made fun of.
- Zorak's Let's Play being the most well-known mockery of the game. Available here.
- Yuoaman's LP on the Pokecommunity forums has this in spades as well. Can be found here.
- Kingdom of Loathing does this constantly.
In the Spooky Forest, you are attacked by one of the spookiest mummies you've ever seen. [...] This isn't saying much, though, since you've never found mummies to be particularly spooky. I mean, "Ooooh, no! I'll have to walk slightly faster if I want to escape!"
- Touhou 13: Ten Desires has Marisa meeting the Mamizaou, the Bonus Boss of the game, who she couldn't resist making fun of after finding out what she is despite it being a hazard to her health.
Marisa: But you're still a tanuki, right? The kind that drums on their bellies on the night of the full moon? Mamizou: You are making light of us, are you not? What do you call yourself? Marisa: I'm Reimu Hakurei! Mamizou: Marisa Kirisame, is it? I'll be sure to remember that. I intend to take my revenge, so you'd best watch your back on the night of the full moon. Marisa: Hey, go after Miko, not me...
Web Animation
- Press Start Adventures ep 19 up to code: "What happened to the bodies of these medusas?"
Web Comics
Web Original
- The Angry Video Game Nerd has mocked many generic or poorly conceived monsters in his run. His Action52 review has the best variety ranging from safety pins to 'shit pickles'.
- Retsupurae does it a lot with the jump scares within the Arise series. "John Mc Cain! Why?!"
- Suburban Knights features the reviewers encountering and taunting Cat, the Cloaks, and Which Warrior. What follows is:
- Cat unleashing a Curb-Stomp Battle on them, managing to take out most of Team 1 before he is stopped.
- The Cloaks opening fire with balls of electro-magic.
- Which Warrior channeling a demon and then unleashing a lighting storm that destroy's Phelous's little friends.
- Then, before the last battle, The Nostalgia Critic mocks Jaffers. Jaffers then responds by summoning all of the above for a battle.
Western Animation
- Futurama
- "Where No Fan Has Gone Before": Upon seeing Energy Being Melllvar, Bender's response is "What a cheesy effect!"
- "Kif Gets Knocked Up a Notch": Bender again. "What's that big, ugly thing? A frog? a toad? or your momma?"
- "Benderama": The crew make a delivery to a giant alien and are warned not to remark on his hideous appearance. Natually, Bender (and the two clones of himself he created) let fly with the ugly jokes, and the giant attacks them. Later, the giant flies to Earth to apologize, but everyone is drunk because all water has been turned to alcohol (Bender's fault, of course) and ends up being insulted and going on the rampage all over again.
- My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic
- There is a whole song about it in part 2 of the pilot, "Elements of Harmony", in which Pinkie Pie teaches her friends to literally laugh away their fears.
- In "A Dog and Pony Show", Rarity is initially intimidated by the Diamond Dogs who are holding her captive, but when they try to force her to find and dig up gemstones, she obstinately refuses, then goes on to mock their appearance, manners, and personal hygiene.
- The Simpsons, in a "Treehouse of Horror" episode, Homer mocks a Werewolf Flanders, while he's being mauled!
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