Nightmare Fuel / Skullgirls

*SPLURTCH*

"What sort of nightmare is this?"

— Parasoul, referring to Double

In the colorful world of Skullgirls, Mad Science runs rampant, The Mafia tries to control everything, and a shape-shifting monstrosity supposedly serves the goddesses. Those are just the samples...

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The Game

• Peacock:
  • Her backstory: A Child Slave that was mutilated so horribly that Lab Zero had to turn her into a Cyborg to let her survive...and the experiences were so traumatic that her mind snapped and she turned into a highly disturbed killing machine who kills with old timey cartoon antics. One of her victory poses has her taking a puff off her cigar and exhales the smoke from the corner of her eye. And speaking of those eyes, those dots on her face were her eyes, and she actually sees with the eyes on her arms.
  • In her Story Mode there's a sequence in which the player is treated, from Peacock's point of view, to a flashback in which one of the slave traders reaches his thumbs towards her eyes. It ends with the screen going red and a sickening squelch.
  • In all the original character's trailers, the shot with their name and image art at the start where they say one of their own lines has a number of phrases related to the character written in the background. Peacock's include '-ED WITH BLO-', '-N, SPOILED AND EXTREME-', 'CARTOON CRONIES' and most notably 'PEACOCK IS DAMAGED', right next to her razor-sharp smile.
    • "CARTOON CRONIES" "DEADLY TECH" "BROKEN MIND"
• Ms. Fortune:
  • Her attacks are extremely graphic compared to the rest of the cast's, with blood and muscle fibers exposed whenever she detaches her limbs, and her backstory has her being dismembered by the Mob shortly after attempting to steal and subsequently eating their treasured Life Gem. It's unknown if she happened to feel any sort of pain during that ordeal (though it's pretty safe to assume she did) and she retains the scars from her dismemberment.
  • Her fate in Cerebella's ending. She's graphically crushed in Vice Versa's massive hands until all that's left is the Life Gem that gave her immortality... and some fans think she's still alive after the process!
• Painwheel:
  • Like Peacock, she was originally an average young girl before becoming the killing machine she is today. Unlike Peacock, her conversion was very much not consensual. She's in perpetual pain and torment due to the changes made to her, so she's mentally controlled by Brain Drain, a girl trapped in her own twisted husk of a body. She's like a nightmare that you can never wake up from.
  • Her fighting style makes it so she's constantly contorting her body into positions that would be excruciatingly painful in real life. For example, at least one move involves pulling her leg up to the point it seems to snap and sprouting a huge spike through the back of her calf.◊ Combine that with most of her battle "quotes" being screams of pure and utter agony, and it becomes very clear just how thoroughly mutilated she was by Brain Drain in the name of fighting the Skullgirl.
  • Fridge Horror kicks in when you learn about the mythological spear the Gae Bolga parasite was based on: It was a magical spear gifted to the Irish warrior Cú Chulainn by his teacher, and it's main feature was that, if it was thrown at and landed in an opponent, its head would erupt into sharp barbs that would then spread through the opponent's blood vessels until they were dead. Painwheel's Gae Bolga is already implanted into her body, and while it doesn't seem to be fatal, her vocalizations suggest that it hurts like hell...
• Valentine:
  • Her Level 3 Blockbuster. She stuffs her opponent into a body bag and Izuna Drops her onto an operating table. The screen goes into a cinematic sequence with the victim looking up at her through dim operating lights. And then...
  Valentine: Tell me where it hurts.

  This leaves the entire operating curtains splattered with her victim's blood. Just what the hell did Valentine do to her victim to spill that much blood in a blink of an eye?!

  • She has one particular Story Mode portrait that's a bit creepy, where she clenches her mask between her teeth in a vicious Slasher Smile.
  • In Cerebella's Story Mode she chases Ms. Fortune to The Grand Cathedral but is met by none other than Valentine saying something to the effect of: "Despite being mutilated so, the specimen still lives! Truly fascinating..." The implication being that Nadia got there first, was beaten by Valentine, and that she's been conducting horrifying experiments on her until you showed up. Poor girl can't catch a break in that Story Mode.
• Double is terror incarnate.
  • Double's Story Mode portraits are more disturbing than her usual appearance.
  • Her Story Mode ending shows her enjoying a delicious meal... consisting of the entire rest of the original roster, some looking terrified like Ms. Fortune and Filia, others struggling, like Peacock and Parasoul, and some seeming to be barely conscious, like Cerebella and Valentine. And Ms. Fortune is among the characters getting eaten. Note that Ms. Fortune has the Life Gem, which allows her to regenerate instantly. Which would either mean that Ms. Fortune is constantly regenerating while being digested, or that if Double wasn't immortal already, it is now.
  • They somehow managed to give Double a bunch of even more horrifying new forms in Eliza's story mode. How is that possible?!
  • Her voice quotes versus Beowulf and Eliza. Voice of the Legion mixed with Tranquil Fury? *shudder*
• Filia:
  • The story glosses it over, but she essentially has a second face growing out of the back of her head. Not only that, but Samson's sentient and implied to be manipulating Filia for his own purposes. Thankfully that last part is subverted as Skullgirls Mobile reveals Samson swore to protect Filia and genuinely has her best interests at heart, taking over her body to save her from dying.
  • The originally planned version of her story was a HELL of a lot worse! Not only is Samson explicitly depicted as a Manipulative Bastard, but it's shown he deliberately mind-wiped Filia in the first place, used the state to manipulate Filia into a more overtly sinister goal, and devoured her parents in the process!
  • If Fukua is taken into account, ending and all, it would appear as if Samson is holding back someone WORSE than himself.
• Squigly:
  • Her story mode starts with Black Dahlia and some goons in costumes attacking her family. Then there's a Gory Discretion Shot where the only things heard are gunshots, breaking glass, and screams. Next, Black Dahlia is shown holding a gun to a crying Squigly's head. The picture zooms out and *BANG*.
  • It's implied that when Squigly first got Leviathan she had to help put down her Skullgirl mother. On her mother's birthday. Yeesh.
  • Going by how Squigly's father looks after his wife became the Skullgirl, there's a gaping, bleeding hole in his shoulder with a conspicuous blood trail leading away from him. His voice lines indicate that his final wish for Leviathan was to cease using him as a host and instead help Squigly to free her from the Skull Heart's control. Meaning that even after presumably getting shot, Leviathan probably ripped his way out of his body in order to follow hid wishes and get to Squigly.
  • After everything else Dahlia and her gang did, the Medicis had to perform perhaps the most heartless act of humiliating indecency on Squigly's corpse by sewing her mouth shut. Simultaneously an insult to her as a singer, a warning to others who might dare to cross them, and a symbol of how their family had been silenced.
• From some of the potential characters from fan-vote.
  • Umbrella is a cute girl in rain-gear... with a multi-eyed hungry shape shifting weapon that's far bigger than her. People trust children with living weapons like that?
  • Annie's rabbit plushie is actually a remote parasite that has her eye in its mouth.
  • Most members of Lab 8 have really unsettling alterations made to them. Most notably, Ileum seems to be made entirely of intestines and can spit acid from her face that can melt flesh. The worst part? Apparently the injuries that she previously received in the Great War make this an improvement.
  • Taliesin's remote Parasite has his fingers in its mouth.
  • Venus Lovelace and her parasite Abaddon. She has the ability to distort into monstrous forms and unravel mouths and locusts anywhere in the battlefield. It is implied that her true form is vastly larger than she lets on to the point her victims are said to be engulfed by it already.
  • Scythana is a twelve-foot-tall escaped convict, who's fighting style consists of picking up the corpses of her fallen teammates or other nearby bodies and beating her opponents with them.
• Eliza might seem sexy on the outside...but that's before you realize everything else about her.
  • Her fighting style involves manipulating her blood into all kinds of shapes and sizes, complete with a proper squish noise accompanying it.
  • Hiding directly under her is the Parasite Sekhmet, a skeletal parasite that has basically taken over any kind of bone mass she's ever had. Anytime Eliza summons her for attacks she rips out from Eliza's skin.
  • A bit of Fridge Horror also comes into play when you realize Eliza doesn't actually have a body—anything on her that isn't Sekhmet is basically blood. Including her skin, clothes, face, everything.
  • Eliza's story mode ends with her having killed about half the main cast (Cerebella's death is especially brutal). Squigly is now entombed in her house, Miss Fortune is her slave, and Filia is trapped in some sort of blood mummification until Eliza finds a more obedient host for Samson. Not to mention the scene where she turns herself into a blood creature of Godzilla proportions. Coupled with her hunger for conquest, the world is pretty much screwed.
  • Just before that, Eliza comes near the Skull Heart. And, for reasons not yet explained, it really HATES her. As in, slices off Eliza's arm immediately and proceeds to murder. Seriously, what did Eliza do?
• The non-canon and scrapped Multiple Endings in the game's initial story mode.
  Peter Bartholow, Reverge Labs: After we submitted the first drafts of the stories, our producer at Autumn sent us an e-mail that basically said "...Is Alex feeling OK?"
  But, yes, these are all different ways that things go "wrong," despite having a number of overlaps with the "real" events.
• The fate of a woman who is deemed impure by the Skullheart. There will be a slow and painful process that starts with her gaining pale skin and hair, along with red eyes that form skull-shaped irises. She will also gain a skull and bone motif, destructive power, and the Skull Heart in their exposed back. It is said that Marie's heart was strong enough for her to keep her will intact, meaning that those who lack that willpower (like Parasoul's mother Queen Nancy) will attack everything in sight. According to Double, Umbrella's potential bond with the Skull Heart will be even worse than it can be imagined. Considering that the power of the corrupted Queen caused the warring kingdoms to cooperate to stop her, this is saying something.
  • The Queen herself is considered to be one of the most dangerous Skullgirls in the history of the Canopy Kingdom, or even the entire world. She certainly looks the part.
  • Even Marie has started showing signals of losing it in the course of the story. Just remember the massacre of Lab 8.
    • The first time you see her in a character's story: Creepy ambient music play over shots of the catacombs until we see a close-up of Marie's face, a single red eye staring at you.
  • The true horror of the Skull Heart is that anyone wants it at all. What is does to its victims isn't hidden from the world; people know about the Skullheart's power, it's an infamous artifact that creates nigh-unstoppable killing machines. People know that the aforementioned Great War was interrupted by Queen Nancy turning into the latest Skullgirl, and she was so dangerous that all sides of the War were forced to fight her instead. The song "In A Moment's Time" is sung from its perspective about how you're nothing but a pawn before it. People know that if you wish on it, you'll inevitably turn into a Skullgirl. But people chase after it anyway because all they want is a wish to be granted... despite knowing that wish is utterly pointless, will be twisted into something horrible, and that they'll be a mindless monster in just a few years.
• Fukua is in-universe Nightmare Fuel for Filia. Her story mode takes place in one of Filia's dreams, which ends in Fukua killing her, skinning her head, and wearing her face as a mask! The cutesy Art Shift made for this story mode somewhat detracts from the horror, but still...
  • Filia, naturally disturbed by this, gets out of bed and calms herself in the bathroom. She looks in the mirror, and it flashes to Fukua smiling like a killer right back at her◊, shattering the mirror in the process. Seems we haven't seen the last of Fukua.
  • If you look closely at Samson in the "mask", you'll notice that he's crying...
• Gehenna. Everything about Gehenna; the sparse soundtrack, the vast lake of blood in the background, the twitching eyes, the pulsating organs... If one looks closely at the eyes of the stage while moving about in the game they can notice the eyes following the fighters wherever they move on the stage. Not to mention the insane sounding, unintelligible gibberish and screaming in some parts of the soundtrack.
• Big Band:
  • The state he's left in before he gets his cybernetics implies a sadistic glee from his mutilators considering that it was normal crooked cops that did it to him. A leg should not be twisted in that direction, nor should the knee be bending that way. The censored version of the scene isn't much better: While we're thankfully spared the carnage, we're instead put into Ben's perspective as the lights go red and Sarge wickedly grins at him while another cop readies his nightstick.
• Beowulf:
  • In his story mode, a good chunk of the cast (including the Wulf himself) are consumed by Double. This leads to a fight inside her stomach, which is represented (of course) by Gehenna. Additionally, there are long strings of intestines all over the place that ensnare the characters, some of which have mouths.
    • Even worse is how this ends up happening. After fighting a duplicate of himself Beowulf decides to confront his manager, Zane. After a short rant Zane shows his true colors. And by that we mean that his face splits open revealing Double's face. Any Nightmare Retardant that comes from Zane removing his shades to reveal that Double is wearing shades too is negated entirely by the fact that Double wraps around Beowulf like a tongue while the rest of her body shapeshifts into a crocodile like form and eats him whole! Oh yeah, and this all takes place in a cramped office.
  • Look carefully and you'll realize that Eliza, surprise surprise, isn't there. The only reason she was even slowed down in her own story was because the rest of the cast was there to fight her. Now that there's nobody to fight her, she'll most likely tear through the rest of the world with ease.
• Robo-Fortune, of all people, displays a surprising amount of this in her ending: under Brain Drain's command, she successfully retrieves the Skull Heart for his own agenda. What is it, you ask? He intends to create an army of giant Robo-Fortunes in order to take over the Canopy Kingdom. It eventually gets so bad that survivors from both the Black Egrets and Lab 8 are forced to team up under the combined leadership of Annie, Stanley and Adam to delay the oncoming force for as long as possible. Beware the Silly Ones, indeed.
• Umbrella's story mode reveals the whole truth about Hungern, her living weapon, and it turns out he's just as, if not MORE terrifying than his appearance suggests. Hungern is a weapon from back in Eliza and Samson's time, an insatiable devourer of just about anything and anyone he comes across, and at some point he fell into the hands of the Renoirs. He's in Umbrella's possession ostensibly for her protection, but in truth, she has him because his ability to siphon life energy just by being near him is supposed to be suppressing her dormant Skullgirl power, which she inherited from her mother while she was transformed... emphasis on "supposed to be", since Umbrella winds up being way stronger than her stature and age imply, and her irises have a habit of turning into skulls every so often, most notably during her blockbuster moves.
• Just the sorry state of the Canopy Kingdom is enough to count. The kingdom's not even a decade out of a global war that left millions dead or disabled and only ended because their queen turned into something so powerful and destructive that everyone agreed to band together and take her down before she could lay the world to ruin. There are barely any authority figures to rely on: most of the cops are sociopathic jackasses liable to beat you to a pulp for shits and giggles, a vicious mafia family roams the streets, and the royal family (the patriarch of whom started the world war to begin with) is in shambles. At the very least there's the guiding hand of the Black Egrets, but they're very much the David to the Goliath of evils that plague the Canopy Kingdom. Did we forget to mention that every seven years a skeletal monster arises to try and cause The End of the World as We Know It, having been corrupted by the vengeful, omnicidal spirits of the kingdom's gods?
• After two relatively happy story modes, Skullgirls shows it hasn't lost its touch when it comes to its villains with the long-awaited debut of Black Dahlia's story mode - and after years of being in the shadows, Black Dahlia gets a chance to show just how twisted she can be. The first thing she does when Lorenzo calls her into action? Take a malfunctioning jetpack taken from the Black Egrets and fling it into Marie while she's holding the top half of Medici Tower! With that one action, Dahlia manages to rack up a kill count of thousands, and it only gets worse from there. Rather than try and destroy the Skull Heart or wish on it like so many others, Dahlia elects to simply keep it around, seeing it as the perfect bait for Ms. Fortune and a great way to generate her own entertainment. Every character she fights from that point forward dies, either implicitly or very, very explicitly. Squigly? Shot through the head, again. Eliza? Cut off from her blood supply and incinerated with flamethrowers. Ms. Fortune doesn't get killed by Dahlia, no, but she does get the absolute HONOR of getting compacted into the Life Gem much like she is in Cerebella's story mode, only by the hands of Robo-Fortune this time. As for anyone off-screen...judging by Black Dahlia's off-handed remark about delivering Valentine in a body bag after their fight, there's not much reason to hope for their livelihood. The only playable characters who survive their encounters with Black Dahlia are Cerebella and Big Band, which might not be a good thing considering how, at the end of her story mode, Black Dahlia does wish on the Skull Heart, and the end result is an apocalyptic hellscape reminiscent of Doom. And the worst part? She gets away scott-free! By the Skull Heart's own standards (though definitely not the standards most people would hold her to), Black Dahlia is "pure," and so she doesn't become a Skullgirl afterwards. One would THINK that lacking that power boost would be a downside when the world is ending, but Black Dahlia sure doesn't see it that way. And unlike Eliza's story mode, there's not even a Hope Spot at the end - Black Dahlia wins, completely and utterly.

The Webcomic

• Episode 8 reveals the origin of three of Marie's mooks. They were previously members of the Medici working for Lorenzo just before being killed by Marie who reanimates their corpses shortly after. The panels of them rising back up is quite frightening.
• Episode 24 shows Filia's family being attacked by Vitale and Ottomo before they can flee Maplecrest. Not only does Filia get to listen to her parents being gunned down by "Uncle Vitale", but she's nearly killed by Ottomo. While the aftermath isn't especially explicit, we're still treated to Filia spattered with blood and her head almost completely dyed red after a single crushing blow by Ottomo, the implication being that he slammed her into the ground so hard that the back of her head busted open. No wonder Samson ended up replacing most of her skull.

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