History Main / NightmareRetardant

* In-universe example: during ''Literature/TheVoyageOfTheDawnTreader'', Lucy is separated from the party and forced to break into a magician's study to find a spell. She climbs up the stairs and goes down the long hallway on her own, during which [[NothingIsScarier everything is dead silent]] and [[EvilMask creepy masks watch her from the wall]] — she even gets a minor JumpScare when she catches a glimpse of her reflection in a "bearded mirror" (a mirror that makes her look as though she has a beard). However, once she gets the spell, Aslan himself shows up and the magician, Coriakin, turns out to be a CoolOldGuy,

* In the manga of ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', Barry the Chopper fails to look disturbing or scary twice. Once with Alphonse Elric, the other with Riza Hawkeye. He later succeeds with some prison guards.
--> '''Barry:''' ''[upon revealing himself as an empty suit of armor]'' Even if you don't know who I am, shouldn't you be at least a little scared? Shouldn't you be going "AAAH!" or "What happened to your body!?"\\
''[Al removes his helmet to reveal that he's also an empty suit of armor]''\\
'''Barry:''' AAAAH! [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments What happened to]] ''[[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments your]]'' [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments body, freak!?]]

* Random Security Guard Guy being squished with ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' blood-spray in ''Anime/{{Patlabor}} Wasted XIII''. It actually won an award in a magazine for being the most hilarious death of the year.

*** The Mechanoids in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS2E8TheChase "The Chase"]] were a potential Dalek rival and were lavishly budgeted and merchandised. Looking like a D20 the size of a garden shed, and being about as maneuverable as one, did very little to make them conceivable threats. There's a whole EasterEgg on the DVD in which various TalkingHeads all make fun of how rubbish they are.

The polar opposite of AccidentalNightmareFuel: Something meant to be truly terrifying (or at least somewhat frightening or disturbing) which instead comes off as stupid, laughable, cute, or all of them. As with NightmareFuel, examples will often be subjective; what one may consider this, [[NarmCharm another may still find terrifying as heck]]. Often caused by SpecialEffectsFailure or StockSoundEffects; sometimes, for older titles with now-outdated special effects, it can simply be an example of SeinfeldIsUnfunny. Also often unintentionally invoked when a character looks or sounds like a less frightening character from another work. Of course, when used intentionally, it could be an IntendedAudienceReaction.

* "Advertising/KFee", a German brand of coffee, had a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFsiSxDKgKM TV advertising campaign]] with several adverts featuring several peaceful and tranquil locations... until the peace is broken at the last second when a [[JumpScare zombie or gargoyle suddenly pops up from nowhere and lets out a loud, monstrous scream]].[[note]]The campaign's tagline was "Ever been so wide awake?"[[/note]] In the following year, however, parodies of three of the adverts were made to promote the new "K-fee Lite", which had men in silly costumes popping up at the end instead of the more realistic zombie or gargoyle screaming. The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TI-vH5RVg5M car parody]] had a man in a girly outfit slowly rising up and saying "Boo" in a casual voice. The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLcr57NLmDw sunset beach parody]] featured a man in a teddy bear costume also saying "Boo", and the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QSXy4CRjUs golf parody]] features a man in a sort of demon costume making a silly roaring noise, with the top part of his head and antennas visible throughout the advert before he actually pops up.

* An issue of ''ComicBook/AmbushBug'' featured Quantis, the koala that walks like a man who is really [[spoiler:Dr Quentin Quantis turned into a giant koala thanks to a serum containing the essence of cuteness]]. This [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever giant marsupial]] even has the authorities going "Aaaaaw!" rather than trying to destroy it. It sounds really funny doesn't it? Then there's the fact that it goes "Niknak!".
* As awesome as the ''ComicBook/SupermanBrainiac'' arc in Action Comics was (which actually contained fairly competent, if mild, nightmare fuel) it also contained spaceships shaped like skulls.
* The ComicBook/RedSkull had the same problem in UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|of Comic Books}}, with his skull-shaped space-station (red, of course). It wasn't as scary as he likely wanted it to be, probably the reason he got rid of such stuff in more modern times.
* Your view on Christabella from ''ComicBook/SilentHill: Dying Inside'' will probably range somewhere between "scary" and "creepy". But the moment she starts swearing like a sailor, you will most likely zero in on "ridiculous".
* In a word, [[ComicBook/{{MODOK}} M.O.D.O.K.]], a villain first fought by ComicBook/IronMan. When A.I.M. first created this guy, a mutated, ugly head with small arms and legs on a high-tech chair with the brain of an EvilGenius, he ''was'' pretty intimidating. Unfortunately, VillainDecay made him more and more ridiculous, even more so when they introduced a DistaffCounterpart called "M.O.D.A.M.". M.O.D.O.K. has since become an IneffectualSympatheticVillain, whose Crowning Moment of Stupidity [[TooDumbToLive was likely challenging Thor to a fight]] - only to be smashed in one hit.
* In-universe in ''[[ComicBook/TheMultiversity Ultra Comics #1]]'', [[spoiler:Intellectron is considered to be this. Ultra utilizes comments laughing at his appearance and calling him "an evil egg" with "evil batwings" in their battle]].
* The Siren's issue of ''ComicBook/MyLittlePonyFiendshipIsMagic'' can be this for them, since ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsRainbowRocks'' implied they were a much bigger threat than they're actually presented as here.
* ''ComicBook/SupermanVsTheAmazingSpiderMan'': Invoked In-Universe. ComicBook/DoctorOctopus thinks his [[AnimalMecha Flying Octopus]] looks menacing. Franchise/SpiderMan thinks it looks dumb. And goofy. But mostly dumb.
* A comic book adaption of ''Literature/WhoGoesThere'' (the same story that ''Film/TheThing1982'' was based on) showed what the monster's original form looked like. It looked a goofy fuzzy green humanoid with stringy white hair and three bulging red eyes. A character in the comic said [[{{Narm}} "It looks like pure evil!"]]. [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]] in his review of the comic burst out laughing when he saw this and said it look like a rejected [[Franchise/TheMuppets Muppet]] or a little green man from ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory1'' wearing a wig. In later episodes an [[AdorableAbomination adorable]] plushy based on it can be seen on the shelf behind Linkara.
* ''ComicBook/TheThingFromAnotherWorld'' and its miniseries thrive on killing whatever horror you felt for the movie, ranging from [[spoiler:Child's thing]] going full Rambo to ''Eternal Vows'' bizarre musings on fish.

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'':

** Guzzlord is one of the most horrifying looking Pokémon and the two-part episode it first appeared in is arguably one of the darkest episodes in the ''Sun & Moon'' anime. What it sounds in the Japanese version however painfully tries to be terrifying but instead the screams it makes are downright laughable and unfitting. Even worse is that people widely compared it to ''[[WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry Tom's screams]] of all things'', making the fear factor die out even more.

** The Witches and their labyrinths can turn into this. While the imagery is supposed to give off a feeling of other-worldliness, it's hard to take seriously when it most of the designs look they were lifted from ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'', or at least that they were [[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs all made on drugs]].

* ''WesternAnimation/DisneySingAlongSongs'': The "[[Franchise/TheHauntedMansion Grim Grinning Ghosts]]" number from ''Disneyland Fun'' has ''WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck'' dressed up as a BedsheetGhost during random intervals, softening the mood of the song.

* Mentioned in ''LightNovel/TheGardenOfSinners'' by Aozaki in Paradox Spiral on how not to make it a monster a NightmareRetardant, one of those rules being that the monster has to be something that is unknowable.

** Rei Ayanami was meant to inhabit the UncannyValley, and probably does. Suffices to say that she has an entry at the {{Moe}} page.
** Kaworu was also meant to be [[UncannyValley unsettling.]] He ended up [[EnsembleDarkhorse becoming a fan favorite]] and many people were actually ''happy'' he showed up because of how utterly depressing the [[DespairEventHorizon series had gotten.]]

Compare FauxHorrific, which involves horrified reactions to mundane objects and occurrences played for comedic effect. Contrast NothingIsScarier, which is a possible way to avert this trope by not showing the monster at all and letting the characters — and audience — scare themselves with the fantasy of what it might be.

* The first time you hear them, DeathMetal vocals may seem very scary. However, it's often pointed out that they sound a lot like Cookie Monster's voice. Good luck being scared now...

** Shivan from [[Recap/BlakesSevenS2E10VoiceFromThePast "Voice from the Past"]], ostensibly a once-famous RebelLeader who's been so tortured and disfigured by the evil Federation that he's barely able to move or see or speak. Instead we get a shuffling BandageMummy in a green cape whose dialogue is totally incomprehensible. [[spoiler:TheReveal that he's TheDragon in disguise [[IdiotPlot doesn't help matters either]].]]

See also {{Narm}}. Compare FetishRetardant for the {{Fetish}} equivalent, and contrast LightmareFuel where the horror aspect is made fun of but still manages to be scary.

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'':
** An InUniverse example, the pilot episode had the Grim Reaper confused and annoyed that the two children weren't afraid of him, which, along with Mandy's rather sarcastic response that he was "a truly terrifying and horrific creature", [[EstablishingSeriesMoment set the tone for the entire series to come]].
** Another in-universe example: the Boogeyman. He tries. Really.
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheBackyardigans'' was ''based'' around this entire trope. The episode was titled "Scared Of You" and featured Tasha as a mad scientist with Austin playing her assistant, she gives Austin some secret notes and tells him it's a secret (a birthday invite because it's Austin's birthday in this episode) and tells him to find three monsters: A mummy king (Tyrone), a rather cute werewolf (Uniqua) and a vampire (Pablo). When he meets the mummy king at first, the mummy king is ''terrified of him'' at first but then says..."You're ''not'' scary", the same happens when he meets the werewolf and the vampire, he then points out that none of them are scary. Then at the end they reach the spooky castle where his master lives, the monsters all go and hide while he looks around, then everyone yells out "Surprise!", and a big monster dance party starts.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** A non Treehouse of Horror example is the Screamatorium, a very low budget and pathetic ghost ride that features cheap ghosts stuck to the walls, a coffin containing nothing but a spring, a skeleton that goes hee-haw like a donkey, and an old woman displaying "the ravages of age".
** There is a Treehouse of Horror episode where Flanders attempts to make a "Hell House", a religious alternative to Halloween haunted houses with the intent to scare people, in this case, children, into being a good Christian. It starts off as Nightmare Retardant, with a crappy sketch where Skinner gets hit by a cardboard bus after looking at a smutty magazine, punished for thinking the human body is beautiful. The children think it's stupid, and thus fails in converting them, so Flanders prays to God to give him the ability to scare the kids into religion. This trope is subverted: God answers, and Flanders turns into a Satan-looking monster and forces them to sit in a hellish realm and watch several scenes featuring the consequences of the seven deadly sins. By the end, the children promise to be good Christians.
** Inverted and played for laughs with The Grumple, a character from an ice-show that looks like a man in a Dr. Suess-ian suit. Later in the episode, Homer knocks it out in a bar fight, and we see it has green blood.
--->'''Homer''': What the hell ''is'' this thing?
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''
** One episode has live-action footage of "giant" guinea pigs terrorizing the town and its citizens.
---> It's a [[BearsAreBadNews Guinea Bear]]!
---> No, it's a [[EekAMouse guinea mouse]], stupid!
** The episode "Cow Days" had another deliberate example of this too, with a haunted house that was decidedly un-scary.
--->"So, the Chamber of Farts has another victim, eh? Don't worry; there are no ghouls here. Only... ''farts!''"
** "Woodland Critter Christmas" has the newly-born Anti-Christ, who looks like a hairless rat with horns and makes high-pitched gibberish sounds. It's killed when Santa Claus whacks it with a hammer.
--> '''Stan:''' What the hell is ''that''?!
* ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' spoofed this trope a couple of times. Remember the disgusting, horrifying and unspeakably grotesque [[{{Narm}} ROOM WITH A MOOSE]]?? Ultra Peepi to a lesser extent. His unbearable cuteness sweeps away all the horror he fairly causes among people at first, which makes it a whole lot easier for him to destroy the city (even the military refuses to attack the cute giant hamster). But the point is that Ultra Peepi wasn't actually intended to be horrifying at all. He was supposed to be a genuine Nightmare Retardant, so that people wouldn't pay much attention to the havoc the hamster's creating, therefore letting themselves be gradually killed off.
* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'': parodied, how does The Flash (who switched bodies with [[BigBad Lex Luthor]]) convince the other villains he's evil? He doesn't wash his hands.
* In ''WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse'', villain [[WarElephants Trumbipulor]] attempts to invoke NightmareFuel by designing his MechaMooks to look like the most horrible, menacing and scary creatures he can think of. The problem is, being an elephant, he is scared of ''mice''. Needless to say, the heroes aren't really impressed seeing robot mice attacking them.
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': In "Scaredy Pants" [=SpongeBob=] tries to frighten trick-or-treaters by putting a sheet over his head and pretending to be a ghost, but the kids just laugh at him and call him "The Haunted Mattress." When he has Patrick shave his body to make him appear round, they comment that he must've been demoted to a Haunted Sleeping Bag.
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'' reimagines Krang as [[CompositeCharacter an entire species akin to the Utroms called "The Kraang]]", who get around using disguises that, even compared to the stylized designs of the show, look very, very fake. They ''seem'' like they'd be borderline ParanoiaFuel... But then they start [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment speaking in nothing but redundant, corrupted metaphors or literal-minded phrases]], pretty much destroying the fear factor.
* ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'':
** An in-universe example with [[NamedAfterSomeoneFamous Willie Nelson]], a monster who lives in the Aqua Teens' attic, but isn't very good at being scary even when Master Shake tries to teach him how to. [[CannibalLarder And then they find out what the attic looks like...]]
** There's also the episode with a [[EvilDoll sinister ventriloquist doll]] who marks his entrance going "Kill...KILL...'''KILL'''!" with a dramatic close-up and ominous music. He quickly turns out to be completely harmless, and more annoying than anything else. Then they find out Carl got a similar doll who says "Die!" instead of "Kill!" and the two hook up.
** And then the episode where Frylock kills Shake, Meatwad, and Carl, who come back as zombies to torment him into a nervous breakdown as his house burns down around him. Then they start getting into a repetitive, [[OverlyLongGag overly-long argument]] and it turns funny again.
* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' has quite a bit of this. While there are some scary moments, they are often offset by funny moments or the LampshadeHanging of their absurdity.
** In "The Monster of Phineas-n-Ferbenstein", Dr. Doofenshmirtz's ancestor tries to transform himself into a monster using a potion he made, but he didn't check the settings of the machine that makes it, so he turned into a pink fairy instead.
** The Halloween episode "That's the Spirit" [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] and then completely [[SubvertedTrope subverts]] RealAfterAll.
--->'''Phineas''': Isn't this the moment in one of these things when someone really turns into a ghost?
--->'''Russell''': ...Dude, that's it!
--->'''Phineas''': Oh, okay. See ya next year!
** The obligatory DwindlingParty zombie episode "Night of the Living Pharmacists" has the characters turning into... [[ItMakesSenseInContext pharmacists]]. Well, technically they [[RunningGag aren't pharmacists]], but...
--->'''Film/{{Shaun|OfTheDead}}''': Don't touch me! I don't want to be a pharmac—! Wait a second... [[LampshadeHanging That doesn't even make sense. You get touched by a pharmacist, you become a pharmacist? I mean, you can't just grow a lab coat]].
--->'''Ed''': I don't know, perhaps the disease infects your clothin' as well.
--->'''Shaun''': Infects my c— Are you insinuating that my clothes are alive?
** For anyone who found [[ZombieGait the steadily multiplying series of shambling and brain-dead Doofenshmirtz clones]] horrifying in spite of the silliness, the [[TheStinger stinger]] song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hkMPKCY_vg "Lots of Me"]] probably cleared that up real fast.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Pingu}}''; despite being [[NightmareFuel the highlight for the infamy surrounding]] ''Pingu's Dream'', the walrus' laughter/chuckle isn't that hard to remind of [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Dr. Hibbert]].
* The ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' finale "Graduation" starts with Kim and Ron confronting Drakken, who had just consumed a formula that would turn him into a plant monster...but only caused him to sprout petals around his head.
-->'''Ron''': He's a pansy!
-->'''Kim''': I'd say marigold.
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''
** Brilliantly subverted in the episode "House and Garden." The episode's monsters are shadowed whenever they're shown to make them creepy; when their appearance is revealed (think a giant cactus man) they're predictably silly looking. Then it's shown how they're created, and they become absolutely ''terrifying.''
** The production team admitted that they struggled to make the Scarecrow look scary. Many of his intial looks failed largely because of how cartoonishly skinny Crane was, making him look out of place when compared to the other more realistically proportioned characters. They would tinker with his design throughout the show's run until they suceeded in ''The New Batman Adventures'' by giving him an undead preacher look and recast the part with Creator/JeffreyCombs.
* Spoofed on an episode of ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends''. In the episode [[Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind "Close Encounters Of The Garfield Kind"]], Jon, Garfield and Odie are watching a cheesy made-for-TV sci fi movie. One of the scenes shows what's supposed to be a creepy looking alien saying, "Greetings people of Earth. We come in peace. Take us to your leader." However, the fact that he's wearing kitchen mittens, and his space ship is clearly a cardboard prop negates any sense of fear Garfield, Jon and Odie have.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheMightyHeroes'' episode, "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHFoJnOmp3Y The Monsterizer]]" has the reassuring version that follows a beginning that is genuinely frightening for kids of a villain forcibly transforming innocent people into mindless creatures in a dark house. That sequence is immediately followed by the series' title sequence which has blazing bright colours set to a rousing march as powerful superheroes are called to action to stop this horror.
* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'' episode "Doug's Nightmare on Jumbo Street" has our hero suffering from nightmares after watching a horror movie called ''The Abnormal'' and not being able to work up the nerve to see TheReveal of the monster's true form at the end. When he finally does, it becomes an in-universe version of this trope when "The Abnormal" turns out to be [[PeopleInRubberSuits a guy in a lumpy, loudly-colored costume with an obvious zipper in the back]]. He then has one last dream where he and his dog Porkchop encounter the Abnormal, spot its zipper, and get some good laughs when they see that the monster was being played by a tower of little dogs inside the suit.
* In ''WesternAnimation/DragonTales'', this happens InUniverse in one episode where Ord is unable to sleep after having recurring nightmares about being chased by a terrifying monster. His friends try to get him to confront his fear by dressing up as the monster, and their costume ends up looking so goofy that Ord bursts out laughing at the sight of it and completely loses his fear of the monster.
* Done on purpose in the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "28 Pranks Later", where what would be genuinely scary imagery is completely neutered by the rainbow frosting on the muzzles of the ponies who were [[OurZombiesAreDifferent zombified by cookies]]. It's pretty much the only way a show in this genre and time slot could do a ZombieApocalypse episode, managing to get away with the frosting on their faces dripping like fresh gore, and even including the all-important scene where the survivor approaches a couple of characters hunched over something and discovers they're zombies feasting on a fresh kill (in this case, of course, a box of cookies).
* Any recording of the ''WesternAnimation/OggyAndTheCockroaches'' episode "The Ghost Hunter" that's recorded by phone. Especially [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyGZGY6wK5k the Chinese version]].
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