Nightmare Fuel cleanup and maintenance

I have to agree...I can see how he can be unnerving, but actually frightening? Not really buying it.

I dunno, I can see the argument for how a guy like Hans might be scarier for some people than the more outlandishly fantastical sort of villain. It wouldn't be my personal take, but I think it's valid for a YMMV reaction.

First of all for Frozen, the page was only split into folders to hide the plot twist regarding Hans, presumably because the person who made the page didn't know that spoilers don't matter on Nightmare Fuel pages. Now that spoiler tags are gone, there's no reason for Hans alone to have a folder to himself.

I haven't seen that movie, but here are my thoughts on items that should be removed:

• Elsa can create sentient life at will, which basically makes her a goddess. Sure, said life could be cute and friendly like Olaf, but it could also be Marshmallow, a rampaging mountain of temperamental snow fully willing and able to toss someone off a mountain as retribution for getting hit with a snowball. While Marshmallow was an intentional creation, Olaf was not, meaning that in a moment of stress or panic Elsa could unleash such a creature without even realizing she had done so.
  Just saying "she can create life" isn't Nightmare Fuel. Now, specific examples might qualify (Marshmallow is on the page for example) but life-bestowment alone isn't scary.

• King Agdar specifically knew where to go when they found Anna was struck, and the way he reacted when told about Elsa's possible future, you could infer he had an older family member who dealt with a similar situation.
  Sounds like Fridge Horror or theorizing.

• The wolves coming after Kristoff, Sven and Anna, especially when one grabs Kristoff and drags him behind the sled. The glowing eyes are the first thing we see of them.
  • Two of them latch onto him and don't let go while Sven is moving at full speed. It's pretty obvious that if Kristoff wasn't wearing his heavy winter clothes, he would have probably bled to death from severe puncture wounds.
  First bullet point sounds OK, but the second is pure speculation about something that doesn't happen.

• Following The Reveal, Anna is left for dead, and freezing to death is discovered by Olaf, who immediately responds to lighting a fire, thus achieving his lifelong dream of experiencing heat. While this scene may perhaps not immediately appear nightmare inducing consider this: Not only is the scene itself creepily unsettling, starting with the darkened overcast shadows as fire dances around the parlor (and the fact that he'll be a puddle inside of ten minutes flat), but it also mirrors how a young child may first interact with fire. From being perpetually mesmerized by it to finally reaching out and burning his hand, Olaf's potential demise symbolizes any Adult Fear.
  This one says "this scene may perhaps not immediately appear nightmare inducing" meaning that it's either not scary enough to qualify, or Fridge Horror.

• The Duke's men were simply merciless and had absolutely no regrets or hesitation with killing Elsa. They just stormed past Marshmallow, chased Elsa through the castle and even after Elsa pleads them to leave her alone, they still aim and shoot at her. Even Hans is begging them not to kill her!
  • Poor Elsa had never used her powers to fight or hurt people, but to be forced into that position must have been terrifying for her as you can see by the looks on her face while she is fighting back.
  • The entire scene is full of fuel because Elsa was finally free and stayed in her own world far away from anyone else where no one could find her or bother her, and she (albeit falsely) believed could never hurt anyone up there. She must have felt terrified that her long awaited paradise was ultimately crushed and she was cruelly taken out by the chandelier.
  • There's a Freeze-Frame Bonus the moment Elsa looks up to the chandelier as it falls, you can see it reflecting in her eyes and she's like, "Oh, Christ."
  Like the example with the wolves, the first bullet point might be a keeper, but everything after that is purely In-Universe fear.

• Elsa was almost killed by Hans' Viking sword, as would have Anna had she not turned to ice. That sword previously hacked right through Marshmallow's thigh. The realization that two young, thin, lightly built girls were in danger of being hit by a weapon on those lines, as well as the thought of what kind of carnage would have happened, is truly frightening.
  • Somewhat less so when you realize that Marshmallow, by all appearances, is made of the same form of loosely-packed snow as Olaf, but still a gruesome prospect regardless.
  The second bullet point is arguing against the first. Either we cut it, or cut the whole example.
• When Kristoff turns to see how the freeze is only getting worse. You can see a mass of realisation on his face, even though he's been told nothing - that the kiss didn't work. It's a nightmare for him.
  "It's a nightmare for him. In other words, In-Universe reaction."
• The whole movie is the story of two girls who were kept in near total isolation for most of their childhood, with one of them perpetually scared of hurting people she loves, and the other having being made to forget why this happens, to the point they both end up showing clear signs of some personality disorder. In a Disney movie.
  The way this is written sounds like overthinking and exaggerating things in order to make it sound scarier than it really is.
• Given how intelligent Hans is, several viewers were surprised he picked up the Villain Ball and left Anna to die unattended — it's easy to just imagine Hans locking the door from the inside, pulling up a chair, and just watching Anna die. It probably was considered, but just too dark for the movie.
  Speculation. Maybe he could have done that, but he didn't, so it's pointless to mention it.

While the Total Drama page seems to have been cleaned up, there are some examples left that I am unsure of.

edited 6th Jun '18 8:37:21 PM by costanton11

>Sees "General" folder

Well, I know what's getting axed right off the bat...

Looking througgh the upcoming works that already have examples

NightmareFuel.Spider Man Into The Spider Verse The Second point appears to be speculation while i'm not sure about the first.

YMMV.How To Train Your Dragon The Hidden World

• Nightmare Fuel: The film's antagonist, Grimmel The Grisly, is a game-hunter that has dedicated his life to capturing and killing rare dragon species. He is the one responsible for pushing the Night Furies to the edge of extinction.

Is "Villain sounds bad news" a good examples? So far the only information about the film are a bunch of screenshots. There's not even a trailer yet.

For that matter, the Tear Jerker on the page appears to be Speculative Troping combined with Reviews Are the Gospel.

NightmareFuel.Fantastic Beasts The Crimes Of Grindelwald appears to be entirely Speculative Troping

Most of these look fine, actually. Here are those that I agree might be pushing it:

• Gwen's deranged facial expressions when high on Cody's allergy medicine in "The Am-AH-zon Race", especially up close◊. Those eyes...
  The picture doesn't look that scary. Not sure what it's like in context, though.

• Zombie Ezekiel. Good lord.
  • If you think that was bad, then there's his upgraded nightmarish appearance in Africa. Oh, sugar honey ice tea, it's like a dog mixed with a Witch! If that somehow wasn't enough for you, then there's his fate in the finale, both his face as he has the million and is falling into the volcano, and his expression as he is being launched back out, his skin completely burnt, and some people thinking he ACTUALLY DID DIE.
  • At the same time, Alejandro looks even worse, with his hair being burnt off, all his skin completely fried, and his limbs mangled from being trampled on by the others - before being merged with a robot in a completely weird Revenge of the Sith parody.
  First one is a Zero-Context Example. Second one contains a Sink Hole for the sake of a gratuitous Madagascar reference and a redundant pothole to Nightmare Fuel, though the example itself might be worth keeping with a rewrite (it's also poorly indented). Third one sounds OK aside from the bad indentation.
• Scott's fate near the end of the season. He has a toxic marshmallow burn into him after his elimination is announced and ends up covered in a cast on the catapult with Fang the shark, who was eager to maul him all season. The next time he is seen he's placed in a machine, and he can't move or speak. Similar to Alejandro, his condition also appears to leave him far from recovery. Although by the next season, he's fully recovered.
  This one says he's "far from recovery" then immediately turns around and says he's fully recovered by next season. This one sounds like it could be kept, but that specific part is unneeded.

• For Spider-Man, the first example is a Zero-Context Example, and the second is speculation. Cut the page.
• For How To Train Your Dragon, it does sound pretty weak. I'd remove that example since it doesn't really explain why he's scary. And yes, that Tear Jerker example is awful too, it's an Audience Reaction so it can't qualify until the audiences themselves have had a chance to react to it. I'd remove both of these examples.
• For Fantastic Beasts, the first example sounds like speculation, since it's anticipating what he's going to do, but we don't actually know what that is. The poorly indented sub-bullet openly admits that we don't know the context, so it's speculation. The second example is a ZCE, since it doesn't explain what's so creepy about him. Last example is also anticipation, since we don't know exactly what they're going to do. Agree with cutting the whole page.

The main argument against any given Total Drama example is that they're all Played for Laughs.

From Atop the Fourth Wall. Several of the entries do seem scary, but the detail could use some trimming.

• Mechakara.
  • Look at what he's done. He originates from a universe that suffered a robot apocalypse, and apparently, the majority of organic life has been killed off. He killed his Linkara and ripped off his skin, then wore it a la the Terminator, because he was tired of listening to Linkara being a comic book fanboy. The fact that he wants to harness the magic gun and kill every single living thing in all reality is bad enough, but the fact that he is actively out to torture and Mind Rape Linkara just because he wants to see a version of Linkara suffer a slow death? Yeah, Mechakara is one of the most psychotic, depraved and demented A.I's this side of AM.
  • And yet nobody mentions who Mechakara really is: Pollo.
  • And as of The Movie, he's back. And later on, we see what he truly looks like.
    • What's worse is the Unwilling Roboticisation of the crew of the Caelestis. We don't see any of it, just an exterior shot of the ship, and their screams of pain and horror...
• From Sultry Teenage Super Foxes #2, "All that he sees, he conquers." Damn it, Mechakara, stop being creepy!
  • It's worse when you get the context. It's an Early-Bird Cameo of Lord Vyce's catchphrase/slogan.
• Lord Vyce. He's a Multiversal Conqueror considered the most feared being throughout the multiverse. He's managed to kill gods, and effortlessly took out Linkara. And the kicker? He's doing it to save reality from something even worse than him.
• The backstory of Linkara's Magic Gun.
  • It's a girl. The Magic Gun is powered by the soul of a dead girl who was tortured to death by her zealot parents. And the god they worshiped? It's the Entity.
  • Linkara's related breakdown. Think about it: this guy has faced killer robots, mad scientists, and horrible comics without batting an eye. His breakdown when he believes that he was the girl's father reminds us that he can, in fact, go insane if push comes to shove.
    • The Gaslighting Linkara goes through is pretty disturbing in and of itself. Especially the scene where Mechakara seemingly appears in Linkara's apartment to taunt him.
      Linkara: I am not listening to you. You are not there.
      Mechakara: Of course I'm not. Delusions. See where I'm going with all this?
      Linkara: I am going to proceed with the review. It will get my mind off of this.
      (Beat.)
      Mechakara: (smirking) You know, you really should kill Pollo.
      Linkara: (through gritted teeth) Shut up.
      Mechakara: He could grow up to be me, after all. (mockingly puts hand over mouth) Oops. There's that paranoia again.
    • The whole storyline is chock-full of real world fears. Brutal child abuse? Losing your grip on reality? Being abandoned and shunned by those you care about? Losing your most important memories without knowing it? Being responsible for the death of your own child? Nothing imaginary about those.
• The Entity, aka Missingno. It's an Eldritch Abomination so deadly that somebody was forced to conquer universe after universe just to ensure this thing doesn't destroy the entire multiverse.
  • The Entity has stolen over a billion people including most of the cast and Pollo over a period of several months and people (including the cast) are only just now noticing it. And it is thorough in stealing people. It'll steal whole families so no one reports missing relatives, it waits until the person is alone to kidnap them, and yes, being alone in one room of a house while someone else is in another room counts as alone. It kidnaps people from heavily populated or rural areas so the disappearances will go unnoticed for a long time, and it doesn't leave any kind of traceable energy signature or other evidence behind. Any time you are by yourself, the Entity could kidnap you. Just let that sink in...
  • In a bunch of episodes before the Silent Hill comics that finished off the Entity Arc, in the credits there is a garble of static. If you freeze frame at the right time, creepy unsettling messages appear such as "You have seen my bones before" they were all hints towards the big reveal, but to add on to the creepiness Lewis playing along denied any knowledge of it.
• The trailer for the Halloween review. Oh boy. Everything about it drips with creepy. The unsettling distortion of the voices, what sounds like Vyce reciting the poem from the Dead/Alive review, the mysterious voice at the start saying "EVERYONE IS GONE" and, to top it all off, Linkara's panicked cry of "Is there anybody out there?!" Oh, and the Entity storyline wrapped up in the same month. Joy.
• Street Fighter #1: Cue cred- wait, what's happening to the video?!...time's up...what?! WHAT?! And then Linkara finds a new entry in the journal...I SEE YOU LINKARA
  • Which is then mitigated by his reaction: "Oh, it is ON now!"
• "IAMTHENEVERSHOULDIAMTHENEVERSHOULDIAMTHENEVERSHOULDIAMTHENEVERSHOULD"
• And then there's the Entity's Leitmotif, a creepy little piano tune that adds a whole level of disquiet to what ever scene it's playing in. The tune's name? "Evil" (or alternatively, "Satanic"; Linkara says that he has two copies of the tune with different names). We're not making this up, the song actually has the name "Evil".
• Planet of the Symbiotes: The combination of the murky lighting, odd angle and extremely freaky effect when 90's Kid opens his eyes showing light and static, revealing that 90's Kid is already gone and Linkara's alone with the Entity results in an image that seems very alien, and extremely disturbing.
  • And it gets even worse: The Reveal tells us that the Entity has been around since the first generation of Pokémon. Liz gets taken and the Entity laughs, then Linkara calls for backup and gets no one. Some really scary flashbacks reveals the Entity's systematic plan to remove every single member of the cast besides Linkara. And meanwhile, 90's Kid is slowly devolving, going from goofy and adorable to smirking, and then his voice gets higher and more electronic until...
  • 90's Kid has been gone since the KISS Comics review, maybe even longer than that, and no one even suspected it until now because Entity/Missingno was flawlessly impersonating him.
  • Early on into the "Electric Tale of Pikachu" review, the Entity laughs when Linkara mistakenly says that Vyce could destroy it...and not it's usual evil laugh. This time, it's a flat-out psychotic cackle.
  • Linkara's final conversation with the Entity. The fact that the Entity plans on finding "what happens when an Outer God dies" by killing itself (and that it's smirking as it does so) makes you wonder if it will come back and let Linkara know what happened...
    • What's more is that it identifies the entity as an outer god, one of Lovecraft's pantheons. Considering its age, it is likely the weakest. To put this into context, the only other outer god with a somewhat human form is Nyarlathotep, who is so powerful that if he wished he could obliterate the human race in a space of time smaller than we can perceive. He doesn't because he finds madness more entertaining. He exists in Dr Who continuity. The Doctor is afraid of him. The entity can kidnap you, but Nyarlathotep can be anyone it wishes and if it told you the proper pronunciation of its name you would go helplessly insane. Now imagine a gun made in a ritual to Nyarlathotep. Now imagine one devoted to Azathoth, a being so vast that it hurtles through space, destroying entire solar systems without even noticing. A fight with the entity was bad, but if someone summons another outer god, then you can expect an outright, completely irreversible apocalypse.
• In "Batman: A Word to the Wise" Linkara's in the middle of his latest Badass Boast...and suddenly the Magic Gun doesn't work anymore. He may be more screwed than ever before.
  • And what's worse, if the Magic Gun doesn't work, then what happened to you-know-who?
  • Also from the same review: What has SNOWFLAME! done?
  • And then two reviews later he goes after Insano, thinking it's because of one of the doctor's Anti-Magic generators. Insano didn't so it, so all Linkara did was alert one of his worst enemies that all his magic isn't working.
    • Also, Linkara threatening to just beat Insano with the gun when Insano asks why he's using it as a threat if it's not working magically. Linkara was very, very creepy in that scene.
    • Also, as evidenced in the Battle for Bludhaven review, Linkara seems to be getting more and more aggressive to a lot of people, even 90's Kid.
• The end of the Battle for Bludhaven review has an enormous one for people who have seen Suburban Knights: Cloak #1's suggestion combined with that single drum beat from a certain villain's Leitmotif implies that Linkara might be going to fucking Malachite for help.
• The end of 'Rock N' Roll #31": Things have taken a turn for the worse- Holokara has threatened to kill 90's Kid if he ever interrupts the show again by putting his freaking arm through his chest and grabbing his heart until it stops beating. I fear that Holokara might become the next Mechakara- or worse. Not only does the normally cheerful 90s Kid look genuinely scared but the very idea that a hologram can do that is terrifying; once it's got you, you wouldn't be able to fight it off as it's not solid and you'd just go through it.
  • And now again in Future Shock #1: Holokara effortlessly knocks out Harvey Finevoice when the latter confronts him about his treatment of 90's Kid, and tries to force him to get examined by Nimue. Worse, Holokara's cold rage from Rock and Roll #1 has now morphed into full-on Dissonant Serenity. He keeps insisting that nothing's wrong with him, and when he curb stomps Harvey, he cheerfully implores Harvey not to get in his way again. "I'd hate to have to crush your neck. I mean, how would you ever sing again?"
• The end of the Catwoman - Guardian of Gotham #1 review. We finally find out why Linkara's magic isn't working. He's turning evil! Seeing Holokara's bad enough, but the idea that the real Linkara is on the path to being like that is just chilling. Although this does explain the Holokara's attitude; if Linkara's turning evil, and Holokara is based on him...
  • The end of the second issue essentially deconstructs Linkara as a whole. By showing all the times he's acted selfishly, reckless, or just plain ignored the feelings of his allies, the girl in his magic gun feared Linkara was turning evil and refused to work. The wizard even tells Linkara "These are not the actions of a hero." It's quite telling that all of Linkara's behavior, despite his intentions, would come back to haunt him.
    • What makes it particularly jarring is how little the viewer would have previously thought of Linkara's "evil" acts, brushing it off as comedy. Given the behavior of the average internet reviewer (and more specifically, a member of That Guy with the Glasses), the viewer has effectively been conditioned not to notice Linkara's behavior before this point.
    • The Holokara's rant at the end of Batman: Jazz #1 is a further deconstruction: It plans to use Comicron 1's firepower to force Marvel Entertainment to make better written stories of its heroes under threat of death. This is what Linkara would've turned into had the Magic Gun not stopped his magic, and forced him to re-examine himself.
    • And now the Gunslinger's gotten a hold of Holokara's mobile emitter. Holokara is likely not happy, considering how his last confrontation with Linkara went, and if the Gunslinger can get him working again... Yeah.
    • Actually, the mobile emitter was tied into something in Comicron 1, something that Linksano fried. The scary part is that the Gunslinger might be able to tie the emitter into Sierra, and use it to make a Holoslinger. Think about it: our universe is toxic to the Gunslinger, but a hologram wouldn't have that issue, and could fight effectively.
• Longbox of The Damned, while not actually an official part of the Atop the Fourth Wall universe, can still give you the creeps every October. May we say more?
• Here's a happy thought: As of Starstream #1, The Thing, the creature best known from the John Carpenter film, is in the apartment.
  • The 2012 October trailer also hints that the trust between Linkara and his characters might be broken. Ironic since in the previous video he says that they're one of the main reasons that he won't turn evil- as they help to reign him in- and are true friends. Also Linksano has a pretty creepy Slasher Smile near the end of it as well.
• The Thing from Another World #2- Harvey, Linkara, 90's Kid, and Linksano have turned on each other out of paranoia and fear. Their close friendship has devolved into an explosion of bickering and unfounded accusations against one another, not one of them taking the time to stop and think rationally, or listen- and all the while, a hooded shadow ( sent by the Gunslinger in an attempt to get Linkara angry enough to unlock his Magic Gun and therefore make it "up for grabs" to claim for his collection, enhancing their preexisting resentments and skewing their perceptions to believe they can't leave the apartment and can't communicate with the outside to do so) watches unseen.
  • The way the viewer realizes that the shadow is there? Linksano walks off screen, and the shadow, which looks like it was cast by him, doesn't move.
  • There's also Linkara dressed as Freddy for the Eye Catch prior and after the commercial break.
  • The mention of the planned Sci-Fi Thing sequel TV miniseries that got scrapped, and the revelation that in it, the Thing finds a way to get around the blood test.
• The Ghost of Christmas Present says to Harvey "Where do you think you are right now?" Then the screen goes white as the video ends.
  • The Ghost of Christmas Past/Critic said the same thing.
• The scene of The Gunslinger kidnapping Margaret is bound to induce a tonne of Adult Fear.
• The end of Star Wars 3D #1 NIMUE turns red and looks like she's ready to go HAL 9000 on everybody.
• The Gunslinger's Orwellian home dimension has quite a bit of Nightmare Fuel.
  • To wit, what began with the well-intentioned idea to protect artists' rights in the Gunslinger's universe soon spiraled into curtailing Internet freedoms for the good of the people and eventually labeling expression itself as heresy against the State. The realization that it starts off from a similar scenario in real life makes it even more unnerving.
• The whole introduction of Youngblood #5, with Linkara about as pissed as we've ever seen him, even using some profanity.
• NIMUE's slipping.
  He-he-he-he has seen me. (bzzz) You're not going to win!
  • and if her Star Trek quote is any indication... she knows it and is terrified about it.
  • This is also the first episode to use the To be continued... Scare Chord, which can be startling if you're not expecting it and even if you are, it's still a pretty spine-chilling sound.
• It's even scarier at the end of the Battlestar Galactica review. She asks Linkara if he is afraid of her, he says no and leaves and we get a zoom in on NIMUE and she says in a very scary voice: "You should be."
• Marville is honestly how Bill Jemas sees the world. Think about that for a second.
  • Well, it could be worse—Bill Jemas isn't violent, and at least Marville isn't wish-fulfillment.
• The stinger for The Culling: Part 4. Linkara reads the Absent Grimiore (the book on the Entity) and reveals that the Entity has relatives out there. *gulp*
  • Including one who takes the form of fear itself. And also might be possessing NIMUE
  • Worse still, its mysterious cousin is a small fish from their home universe. That's right, the creature that embodies fear itself have bigger, badder relatives who could easily destroy everything we know by complete accident!
• The stinger for Brute Force #4 has NIMUE acting up again."I'm going to kill you."
  • During NIMUE's ramblings, she mentions "Moloch". A name that has often been attributed to gods and demons. Possibly a name for the Entity's cousin, the King of Worms?
  • Also, Jaeris once had to completely reprogram Sierra, because Sierra started acting up, just like NIMUE is. Sierra could think at insane speeds, and had no one to interact with. As a result, it went insane, and attempted to kill Jaeris. And considering what we've heard from NIMUE (see the above), she's not too far from trying the same.
• The October 2013 trailer where we see NIMUE completely losing it, her ramblings more intense and horrific than ever before. But the scariest bit of the trailer might be the very end.
  NIMUE: [(terrified) Help me.
• The ending to "The Thing From Another World: Climate of Fear #1 and #2".Linkara is now trapped aboard Comicron-1 as it flies away from Earth, with the only company being an almost completely insane NIMUE.
  • That was nothing compared to NIMUE screaming and yelling at Linkara during her breakdown before speaking normally like nothing was wrong.
• Gets worse in the review of Climate of Fear #3 and #4. Not only has NIMUE gone full paranoid schizophrenia on us, no longer apparently comprehending what Linkara is saying, it turns out the King of Worms is behind her insanity-and he made her drive Linkara into his domain, presumably to wait until he can get around to doing whatever horrible things he has planned for Linkara. "Are you afraid?" indeed.
• Spider-Man: Crossfire's cliffhanger brings us this after Linkara puts NIMUE offline.
  Linkara: Nimue? Nimue, please speak to me...
  *beat*
  Vyce: Your computer is dead, champion. Tell me... are you afraid?
  cue Oh, Crap! face from Linkara.
• The stinger to Space Odyssey 2001 #1: Harvey comes home to the apartment alone, only to be infected by a cybermat that was taken over by the King of Worms.
  • Also Nimue vs. Lord Vyce in an admittedly awesome way. She makes sure he knows how pathetic he is compared to her in a programming fight and lists that she has figured out 329 ways to eradicate him.
    Nimue: Number 28 is my favorite.
• After a few months of breather reviews, a Freeze-Frame Bonus appears during the "Extreme!" Running Gag in the review of Youngblood #6: the caelestis won't come home and IN THE COURT OF WORMS WE ARE ALL DEAD. Oh, Crap!.
• At the end of Athena #2 we see one of Linakara's morphers fail. He brushes it off, says it's new and that it took him forever to get his Zeo morpher to work right. The he casually notes he hasn't seen it in a while despite looking for it but brushes it off and when he leaves, a cybermat, controlled by the King of Worms most likely, comes and messes with the broken morpher. Uh oh.
• A little fact that pops up at the end of the 300th Episode: The Margaret from the Mirror Universe volunteered for the ritual that made her what she is. And she still destroyed the cult afterwards. Thank God they're sealed away forever...
  • And to a lesser extent, Frank Millers art. It is painful and unpleasant to look at, and nobody looks properly human.
• During The Adventures of Jell-O man and Wobbly #1 when Linkara is overwhelmed by stupidity he attacks the camera. This comes off as scary rather than funny.
  • In the post-credits story portion, the Cybermats are seen spying on Linkara. And their distinctive noise is heard, growing louder and louder until the video ends.
• In episode 24 of Let's Play Pokémon Omicron, Lewis accidentally knocks out a Corsola with Pokérus and worries about what might happen. Then out of nowhere, the screen starts to turn to static and glitches out. Then Lewis is suddenly on a new save file, acting like nothing happened. Considering that static included creepy, red eyes, it seems like something has returned...
  • In episode 41, the same thing happens after Lewis accidentally knocks out a Missingno he was trying to catch. And to make matters worse, the opening of the video is a black screen filled with static, [while part of the Entity's poem is being read by (apparently) Lord Vyce. Fitting when you realize he is becoming the new Entity....or not Vyce at least, as it turned out.
• In The Stinger of Marvel Super Special #17: Xanadu, we get an in-depth legend about the King of Worms. In order to understand fear, the King visited a world without strife, hatred or fear, and planted a nightmare in the minds of every living being there. The inhabitants of this world grew unable to distinguish the dream from reality, and all went mad. Every being that wasn't Driven to Suicide killed one another until one remained. The King gave sanity to this survivor, forcing it to feel grief and sorrow for its actions. Just for the record, the King of Worms is one of The Entity's weaker cousins.
  • As an added bonus, a cybermat manages to infect Allen.
  • Remember that message in Youngblood #6, "the caelestis won't come home"? Allen mentions that he's been busy helping prepare the first manned flight to Jupiter. The ship is called the Caelestis. Uh-oh.
• Has anyone else noticed that in recent videos, and as of Kamandi at Earth's End #6, Linkara's usual shelf props—most notably, his Legacy Morpher and Dragon Dagger, the Snowflame cutout, the Hostess Fruit Pies box, the Poke Ball, his Li'l Petti plushies, and his logo pillow—are all missing and there are more Cybermats than usual? The fact that it's during this arc that Linkara began having the post-credits Patreon plug is helpful to make the comparison in each video, as his shelf is still full of said missing props in the plug.
• Sonic Super Special #7: The King of Worms is in control of Linksano. Which means, presumably, it's also controlling everyone else who's been attacked.
• His idea of what the Borg Queen's body should have been: a giant spider with a bunch of weapon attachments.
• The Stinger to Cosmic Slam #1. The King of Worms takes control of Sierra, knocks Jaeris unconscious (making it likely he's been overtaken as well) and disables Pollo's new body, forcing him into an older model.
  • And think about it from Jaeris' perspective. Sierra almost killed him once before, and he went to considerable lengths to make sure it would never happen again. But it's the work of an instant for the King to turn him, and suddenly Jaeris is at his mercy.
  • Harvey Finevoice bringing up the possibility that Pollo and Nimue were infected by the King of Worms as well. Considering that he's most likely a sleeper agent for the King, he could be lying to demoralize Linkara...or is he?
• "The Thing: Eternal Vows #1 & 2" has Dr. Linksano showing Linkara how to get into the King of Worms' home dimension. Remember the "Sonic Super Special" stinger? The King controls Linksano already. He wants Linkara to come to him and wants Linkara to think he's found a back way in. And now also knows that Linkara is preparing weapons to destroy him.
  • In the following episode, we get the utterly chilling sight of the apartment crawling with cybermats, after which Harvey reveals he's also working for the King of Worms and shoots Linkara while the Walking Lizard can only watch and run.
  • Actually, funny story; that's not Harvey. It's an Auton.
  • That reveal. A lot of viewers will have been expecting something like this from Harvey for a while now, but that doesn't make the cold violence he turns on Linkara, right when he was looking to "Harvey" as the only immediate ally he had left, any less horrifying.
• The Thing From Another World: Questionable Research - The King of Worms finally appears in person. And its goal is to make the other Elder Gods afraid. Not only that, but upon finding out Linkara is immune to its platinum masks, it lets him know in no uncertain terms that it will dissect his soul to find out why.
  • And then there's how it found that out: a cybermat came into Linkara's room while he was asleep, attacked and abducted him, and then returned him afterward...unaware that any of it had ever happened.
  • The really unsettling static affect that the King of Worms sometimes displays. It's like the Entity's eyes only covering his entire body.
• The implication of what the King of Worms finds inside of Linkara's mind. It scares an eldritch god to death.
  • Made even worse by the fact that that's what does the King of Worms in. Yeah, those anti-Entity weapons? They didn't even work!
    • Linksano's disturbed, nervous behavior after performing the autopsy, gloved hands still covered in blood really sells it.
  • The King of Worms finally attacks Linkara... and we are treated to a disturbing vision where both the past villains and Lewis, both his real self and the Linkara character laugh nonstop and repeatedly kill him, all the while reciting some creepy dialogue. And on top of this, the Entity copy? It stops to look at the audience.

    We are inside with you!

    You will never get away!

    Your pain won't end!

    • The above quote is actually a reference to The Exorcist III.
    • We later learn down the line that that was NOT JUST a copy of the Entity at all.
  • Word of God says that the backwards Linkara is saying "Sleepwalk in eternity." Coincidentally, the next chapter of the Atop the Fourth Wall plot is "the Sleepwalker", and October is about A Nightmare on Elm Street...
  • The King's screams of "It can't be! It can't be! No, please, I did not know! I did not know!" This is because, as it's eventually revealed in the Delicious in Dungeon review, the King of Worms accidentally roused the Entity, who had been sleeping inside Linkara. The Entity is pissed off enough that it kills the King of Worms.
  • Lewis' laughing deserves special mention. He's surprised by something he sees in his camera's screen, then he looks up to check what it is, tilting his head in confusion.....and then he starts grinning. THEN he laughs.
• Wanna know something about The King's actor? It's Suede. Brr.
• Although played for laughs slightly, all of reality is lucky that the different multiverse's Insanos did not come up with the idea to work together sooner. The potential chaos of several very intelligent evil scientists is too scary to fathom.
• The ending of Nightmares on Elm Street #1-2 review, which sees Linkara trapped in a similar situation to the Elm Street movies.
  • Who wants to bet that this year's outer god will be dream related?
• The ending of Nightmares on Elm Street #3-4 ups it even further... because whatever is happening, Linkara is still wide awake.
• The fact Freddy Krueger exists in this universe—or seemed to as the following episode hinted at him really being a being tied to the King of Worms
• At the end of Batman: Shadow of the Bat #58, we see Linkara pacing in thought before moving a white pawn on a chessboard. Pollo then comes in, and the two have a discussion regarding past events, plans for the future, and some of Linkara's fears. At the end, when camera pans back out, we see that someone-or something- moved a black pawn off-screen.
  • Even creepier is Linkara's last line:
    Time to move some pawns.
  • The revelation that the King of Worms was a lesser god among his pantheon-a mortal being that ascended to his current status via outside forces. Between that tidbit of information and the above info pertaining to his death, it's no wonder Linkara is concerned about what might happen if something bigger and nastier decides to do some damage.
• The end of the recent Longbox of the Damned: Midsummer's Nightmare has our replacement host suddenly and painfully turn into Moarte.

  Moarte: How's that for a twist ending, my children? (laughs)

• At the end of Superman and the TRS-80 Computer Whiz Kids: Victory by Computer, Linkara finally has the message from the future decoded. A mere glance at the first line sends him into a sheer panic that he orders EVERYONE aboard Comicron-1 immediately. What line would get him so panicked? "A piece of the world is still missing".
  • Adding to this, he mutters to himself that he knew beating the Entity the way he did was too easy and enough that he's considering Vyce's help.
  • Some of the lower lines make the first one even worse, such as "Powerlessness fit him.", meaning The Entity is now in a better position than before!
  • Pay special attention to the wording of the last line, A piece of the world is still missing, implying that the entity never left!
  • The second line has some bad implications. "Sing a lie to misdirect fellowships." Makes you wonder if we can even trust the message or anything else.
• The cold opening for Nightmare on Elm Street: Paranoid #1: a man and a woman are preforming a ritual that ends with them drinking a ...suspicious red liquid from a goblet. They then proceed to cough and gag, the flesh on their hands and around their eyes turning black, before finally collapsing, seemingly dead.
  • The end isn't any better. Linkara — exasperated with the fact it's the time of year that something tries to kill him — decides to call the forces of darkness out (because that's such a good idea). Cue a mysterious portal opening — then closing, with seemingly nothing coming through. Linkara then investigates the bathroom, where his reflection moves on its own. It seems to flip-flop between two different personalities — an Entity-esque Creepy Child that covers his eyes and wants Linkara to play a game with him, and a raging psychopath with bloody holes where his eyes should be, screaming about showing him "true power", before finally settling on Freddy, causing Linkara to shoot the mirror. An invisible force then shoves Linkara out of the room, and when he looks back in, it's covered in blood. In short, we're off to a great start.
• Paranoid #2 doesn't end much better, with Linkara blinking out into darkness and being attacked and dragged down by many hands. He barely manages to shoot his way out and blink back into existence, covered in black smears.
  • The worst part is that said blinking was only from Pollo and Eliza's point of view. To Linkara, he saw black spots appear on the walls, which slowly begin to expand until they engulf EVERYTHING, all while Pollo and Eliza's argument fades into silence.
• In part 3, Linkara is attacked by two ghosts who burn an upside-down Starfleet logo into the wall. He calls Nella for help and asks her what she knows about it. Her reaction says it all. Can this mean the return of Dark Nella?
  • Before this, Pollo recounts one of Vyce's logs, detailing his encounter with a hostile ghost. Said ghost had Monster House levels of control over the house it was haunting, down to the last pipe and electrical cord. How did Vyce defeat it? By completely destroying the house.
• In Spider-Man: Cyber War, we have Nella's description of what it was like being Dark Nella. Brrr. Also, that fact that Dark Nella had followers. Double brrr.
• In The Real Ghostbusters in Ghostbusters II #1-3, Linkara encounters a grim-reaper like creature. He doesn't recognize it, but it sure as hell knows him...
  Ah... There you are...
  • Pollo's intel on the previous tenets cum Dark Nella cultists, aka the people seen in the Cold Opening of Nightmare on Elm Street: Paranoid #1. From the way he describes it, they were just as likely to have become serial killers or mass murderers as they were to become cultists.
  • The ghosts hitting Linkara with pure unadulterated bitterness and vitriol, causing him to verbally lash out at Pollo. It's just as disturbing as it sounds.
• At the end of Phonogram: The Immaterial Girl, going back to the original message, Linkara realizes something: The message pertains to Lord Vyce. Specifically, it lists everything he has done since his first defeat. And it will all lead him to becoming the next Entity.
• The end of Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters #4 implies that Linkara is making a backslide into evil.
• The end of Ultimate Power #4 reveals that Linkara has been possessed by the Entity all along, and this was why 90's Kid had been working with Lord Vyce as far back as when it was first revealed in Spider-Man: The Trial Of Peter Parker's review, not to mention Linkara's apparent backslide into evil.
  • The Entity is, if possible, even more nightmarish than its first appearance. Before, it exuded an aura of calm malice towards everything. This time, it screams at Erin that this is a game it intends to win. Bonus points for Erin's actress selling her horror at realizing she's trapped on a spaceship with an Eldritch Abomination.
• Margaret the Magic Gun isn't going to be of any help. Why? Because the Entity has control over her, too.
• The end of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Ep. 1-4 has Erin going up against the Entity again, this time with the sight of Comicron 1 restored to give Linkara help in the "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight with the Entity. At first, Erin is going along with this plan, but then she reveals that she has the Magic Coin, which she was trying to take from Linkara when the two of them first met and is made of a material that drives Outer Gods mad. It actually starts to work on Linkara, who suddenly begins to glitch out and show his Jekyll & Hyde tendency by playing chess with the Entity, signifying which one was in control at the moment by Clark Kenting. After he wins, the Entity separates itself from Linkara (looking identical to him, no less) and blasts Erin, who orders Seras to teleport herself and Linkara out of the ship. However, the day isn't exactly saved, since the Entity now has a body of its own.
• Imagine if you will that, at the end of Moby-Dick, the whale died and Ahab, refusing to accept that the thing he was hunting died without him being the cause, snapped and decided to go homicidal. This is what Vyce does after Linkara gets the remnant of the Entity to kill itself, opting to try and destroy the entire universe via a singularity because he could not believe the Entity was dead.
  • It gets worse: Linkara manages to take care of both problems by tricking Vyce into entering Comicron 2, and sending both on a suicide run into the singularity, closing it.
• Lavidian Scarn may not be as intimidating as Mechakara or Lord Vyce and is an arrogant Starter Villain, but throughout his and Linkara's bout in the Contest of Champions, he is shown to be capricious and violent-tempered, especially during his Villainous Breakdown. He also stabs Linkara in a final bid to claim victory. Thankfully, one can't die in the Contest of Champions, but if that weren't the case...
• The intro to the "World War Hulk" review. With nothing more than an ominous drum track and a reverb over a deep, loathing tone of voice, the "Puny humans" speech is given the exact kind of mood it deserves. Namely, the mood of righteous fury.
• The 500th Episode had several interludes showing a Bad Future taken over by Brother Eye. An eyepatch-wearing Obscurus Lupa told Linkara to find Brother Eye amongst the future setting. Linkara seems to have no luck finding him, but then he asks about Lupa's eyepatch... which she didn't even know she was wearing. And taking off the eyepatch revealed Brother Eye underneath, Hidden in Plain Sight this whole time! We were watching it all along and we didn't even know it... or was Eye watching us?
  • Not only that, but Eye's creator Welshy is surprisingly terrifying as the mastermind behind it all, Disproportionate Retribution-based motivation notwithstanding. And Linkara's attempt to fix everything just resulted in it happening. Linkara's actions turned Welshy evil and doomed the future!

Regarding the Frozen examples: ^{My responses} 

• Elsa's powers are triggered by her showing any emotion, and they cannot be turned off. She's seen using them to attack at some points.

The first sub-bullet and its illegally bulleted response is character reaction. This is an audience-reaction trope. The second sub-bullet looks more like a bad Tear Jerker entry. The third sub-bullet is a Zero Context Example. The final sub-bullet is Fridge Horror.

• Whenever her extreme fear takes over, Elsa's ice turns black and sharp. Case in point, when she accidentally freezes the water fountain during the ball. Her ice is no longer soft, and it's not polished and refined, but instead it's rather feral-looking. Props to the animators for being able to illustrate Elsa's emotions so well just through the appearance of her ice.

Animation gushing. It looks more like an Awesome entry.

• Elsa nearly killing the Duke's men with her ice powers. The two may be villains, but they are after all only acting on the Duke's orders, and their potential horrible deaths would have made Elsa a killer for real, even if she was doing it out of self-defense.

The first sub-bullet: starts with 'Arguably' and ends with 'you could argue'. It's violating Examples Are Not Arguable. The second sub-bullet is a Zero Context Example. The third sub-bullet is speculating about things that didn't happen. The fourth sub-bullet is possibly potholing the real trope that's being expressed (Eye Scream).

• When Elsa and Anna are taken to the trolls so they can heal Anna's head, Grand Pabbie tells her that her powers will only get stronger and that while they can be beautiful, people will also fear them, and that fear will be her enemy. This is accompanied by him conjuring a glowing effigy of an older Elsa creating her ice magic only to suddenly be attacked and presumably killed by an angry mob and letting out a terrified scream as they all take her down. They're doing this to Elsa when she was eight-years-old.

This is a Fridge Horror example at best. The illegal sub-bullet is gushing about a Fridge realisation.

• King Agdar specifically knew where to go when they found Anna was struck, and the way he reacted when told about Elsa's possible future, you could infer he had an older family member who dealt with a similar situation.

A wordy Zero Context Example. It doesn't explain how it has anything to do with the Nightmare Fuel trope and is WMG.

• The wolves coming after Kristoff, Sven and Anna, especially when one grabs Kristoff and drags him behind the sled. The glowing eyes are the first thing we see of them.

This entry is potholing the trope its describing (Red Eyes, Take Warning). It doesn't explain why it's Nightmare Fuel. The illegal sub-bullet is speculating — it might be Fridge Horror at best, but since it's extrapolating about things that never happened, it's not Nightmare Fuel.

• Marshmallow growing icepick fangs and claws to fight off Hans and the guards, as pictured above. And earlier, when he didn't have them, what he screams in Anna and Kristoff's face:

This paragraph and the first sub-bullet might be combined into an example for some people. The second sub-bullet is more like conversation and then goes on to talk about a scene that never even made it into the film, so it won't be Nightmare Fuel for people watching the scene at all. They need to watch the deleted scenes for that. So I don't think the second sub-bullet counts.

• The Duke of Weselton's judgmental hatred of magic and sorcery and those who practice them as "monsters", to the extent of even tarring the next of kin with that brush (he was dead set on thinking Anna a co-conspirator with Elsa at the beginning) and wanting them killed at all costs is also pretty nasty, even if not in Hans' league. Ironically had Hans not changed his mind by lying to him about Anna's death, he would have probably attempted to kill Anna too.

This is just a summary of how the character is portrayed in the story. That's not got anything to do with Nightmare Fuel as written.

• After The Reveal, Anna nearly freezes to death, completely alone and not just alone, but weakly pleading for someone to help her. No one hears or even bothers to go back to the room she's locked into, thanks to Hans lying to everyone that she was already dead.

This could be salvageable but it needs rewriting to explain why its horrific for the audience rather than just Anna. The illegal sub-bullet can be removed, it's more like a Fridge realisation.

• Following The Reveal, Anna is left for dead, and freezing to death is discovered by Olaf, who immediately responds to lighting a fire, thus achieving his lifelong dream of experiencing heat. While this scene may perhaps not immediately appear nightmare inducing consider this: Not only is the scene itself creepily unsettling, starting with the darkened overcast shadows as fire dances around the parlor (and the fact that he'll be a puddle inside of ten minutes flat), but it also mirrors how a young child may first interact with fire. From being perpetually mesmerized by it to finally reaching out and burning his hand, Olaf's potential demise symbolizes any Adult Fear.

This explains why it's on the page, but it states that what makes it scary isn't readily apparent in the scene — that's the description of a Fridge example, not a Nightmare Fuel one. The illegal sub-bullet needs to be removed.

• Anna's Painful Transformation into ice during the climax. Even the moments before then, showing her aching and quivering as her body temperature gradually lowers, freezing her from the inside out! You can even see frostbite settling in on her freezing, blue fingers and there's a bit visible on her face. One can only imagine that it must be extremely painful for her. The worst part is when the curse finally freezes her solid, her last breath fogs as it leaves her body.

This is just a scene summary. The illegal sub-bullet deviates into talking about concept art, which has nothing to do with having Nightmare Fuel of this scene when watching the film.

• It's a short scene, but Kristoff nearly getting impaled by a large icicle in an icy cavern counts.

Why does it count? Zero Context Example.

• This counts as a Tear Jerker, but the brief scene of the ship carrying Anna and Elsa's parents going down in a huge storm during one of the songs. No sound, no indication of any people drowning, just a large wave overwhelming the ship◊—and when the wave recedes, bits of the mast can be seen floating in the water. No one had any chance to scream.

As the entry says, it's a Tear Jerker. It looks like an attempt to create Fridge Horror. It's not Nightmare Fuel as written.

• The reprise of "The First time in Forever" is Elsa's greatest fears coming true. Her attempt to leave and be free has doomed a whole kingdom of people, including her sister. Anna thinks Elsa can fix everything and Elsa is forced to confront the fact that she doesn't know how to save them, and when Elsa tries to convince her sister to leave she does the one thing she'd been trying not to since the accident: she hurts Anna. What does her fear do? Create a horrifying howling blizzard in the room, thus making things even worse.

A summary of how things suck for the character, but no hint of audience reaction here.

• Everyone is on the verge of dying from a massive cold front by the end. If this doesn't sink in the impersonal, terrifying power of ice as outlined in "Frozen Heart" nothing else does.

Zero Context Example

• Elsa was almost killed by Hans' Viking sword, as would have Anna had she not turned to ice. That sword previously hacked right through Marshmallow's thigh. The realization that two young, thin, lightly built girls were in danger of being hit by a weapon on those lines, as well as the thought of what kind of carnage would have happened, is truly frightening.

I don't know. It looks like it's trying to be a Fridge Horror example. |Remove the illegal sub-bullet, which is trying to argue against the original entry.

• The entire blizzard sequence at the climax, due to all the confusion surrounding it; Anna desperately searches for Kristoff, Kristoff desperately searches for Anna, Olaf is blown away by the wind, Sven almost drowns in ice water and Elsa is trying in vain to escape with Hans in hot pursuit. All while Kristoff and Anna both know of the very real danger Anna is facing and Hans will try to kill Elsa when he catches up to her.

Scene summary. There's no attempt here to actually explain how Nightmare Fuel is in effect.

• As soon as Anna informs Elsa of the winter she's caused, Elsa begins to have a panic attack. It's scary enough to see Elsa in that condition, but what makes it more so is her panic attack is frighteningly realistic. It really doesn't help that Anna genuinely is making it worse.

I don't know about this one. I can see how someone who suffers from anxiety attacks may connect with the character's panic attack but it also doesn't really explain the realism of the scene either.

• When Elsa runs out of the coronation party, knowing that her powers are starting to run haywire, a woman approaches her, asking, "Your majesty? Are you all right?", and holding out her baby as if she'd like Elsa to bless it.

Well, this justifies itself as Adult Fear, but doesn't bother explaining why it's Nightmare Fuel. The first sub-bullet is speculation about character reaction and the second sub-bullet is just scene summary. The main paragraph might be salvageable with a rewrite, but the two sub-bullets need to go.

• Non-English versions of "Love is An Open Door" are even moreso than the original because the foreshadow that Hans is the villain is much less evident because the double entendre of "We finish each others'..." "Sandwiches!" is not translatable.

This isn't even trying to be the trope.

• The scene when Elsa tells her father to back off because she is scared of icing him is mostly tearjerking...but takes a really creepy vibe in the Cantonese dub, where it is rather eerily similar to a certain Hong Kong government child molestation ad from the '90s (except with the harm reversed) that is probably still the scariest thing in the minds of many 90s HK kids.

This seems like Unfortunate Implications, but it might be an example of Nightmare Fuel.

• When Kristoff turns to see how the freeze is only getting worse. You can see a mass of realisation on his face, even though he's been told nothing - that the kiss didn't work. It's a nightmare for him.

Remove. Nightmare Fuel is not a character-reaction trope.

• The whole movie is the story of two girls who were kept in near total isolation for most of their childhood, with one of them perpetually scared of hurting people she loves, and the other having being made to forget why this happens, to the point they both end up showing clear signs of some personality disorder. In a Disney movie.

This isn't trying to tie in with the Nightmare Fuel trope. It seems to be trying to be Fridge Horror.

• Hans is probably one of Disney's scariest, and probably the most perfect depiction of a sociopath in Disney history. "Oh, Anna... if only there was someone out there who loved you." With one line, his entire character is thrown into question.

All the sub-bullets seem to be a character analysis. This is supposed to be an example of the Nightmare Fuel trope, not Film Studies character analysis homework.

Summary of what's behind the label note:

Of the revised list, three might possibly be keepers if they're drastically rewritten. One may be a keeper as written, and two I'm not sure about. Everything else is either Fridge, character-reaction or not even trying to tie itself into the Nightmare Fuel trope description.

The stand-alone Hans section is a character analysis/review, not a Nightmare Fuel entry.

edited 10th Jun '18 2:35:42 PM by Wyldchyld

Cleaned up Yu-Gi-Oh! The Falsebound Kingdom, which is a page I created/maintained by myself. I gotta ask, is there a place to catalog the deleted NF entries for posterity or something?

edited 10th Jun '18 5:26:27 PM by lalalei2001

We can see them in the history, unless the page is cut. You could also copy them into a post on this thread, if you want everyone to see it. And if the page DOES get cut, we can use the Wayback Machine to view the archived version.

Anyway, very little on your Yu-Gi-Oh sounds like a valid example to me. Many are just scene summaries that don't explain what's so scary. It would be easier to just list what I think can be salvaged.

• Scott brainwashing Yugi's friends is done with a horrifying mugshot of his face that fades into static when he's done, complete with glowing eyes, a swirling vortex background, and mind-numbing music. Put together, it's so effective it can make the player feel brainwashed.
  Not sure about this one. The music is not very scary, but if the visuals really are as disturbing as it says it could qualify since the way it's written suggests that the lasting impact is there.
• Scott Irvine set the entire game up to sacrifice Yugi and friends to DarkNite, who would then devour the world, and explains his plan in horrifying detail. By the end of the game, he's gone insane to the degree that even DarkNite calls him more than a little crazy.
  Scott: It's time for you to give me your souls! It only hurts in the beginning. After that, you'll be at peace.
  [the player defeats him]
  Scott: ...All I wanted to do was offer you as tribute painlessly. The darkness knows no mercy. It will devour your souls ruthlessly. Not even I can guess how painful that will be. You will live... just long enough... to regret the fact that you were not defeated by me...
  • Losing to Irvine before he summons DarkNite has him gloat over Yugi/Kaiba and offer them up as a tribute, implying they should be grateful to him for granting them everlasting life in the darkness.
  Yami Yugi/Kaiba: GUUARRGH!
  Scott: You fought well, I'll give you that, but resistance was futile. Be glad that you were defeated by me. Now you can be offered up as proper tributes to the Dark Spirit. This way you become a part of the darkness. In a sense, I've just given you everlasting life. Now, it's time for you to join with the darkness...
• The secondary function of Scott's virtual world was to be as realistic as possible in order to bring the wicked spirit DarkNite to the real world, which he would devour. He controls at least three Egyptian God monsters, which are extremely dangerous Physical Gods in-universe and very difficult to defeat. DarkNite refuses to tell Yugi his name as he prepares to eat the group, saying "What good does it do the cow to know the name of the butcher? It's still going to end up as steak."
  • Losing to DarkNite has him taunt you over trying to fight the darkness, then telling Yugi/Kaiba they must be tired, so it's time to "go to sleep."
  • If you're playing the game a second time, DarkNite becomes Nitemare, who wields an even stronger Egyptian God that you can't weaken and vows that you will spend an eternity in darkness and tormented pain. Losing to Nitemare has him vow to add the heroes to his own form, forcing them to watch as he devours all of humanity.
  Nitemare threatening you with an And I Must Scream fate sounds disturbing enough to qualify. The rest, not really. I'd cut this except for the last bullet point.

I'd tried to give context to examples so they weren't ZCEs ^^;; didn't realize they went on too long/didn't describe things well enough.

These examples on the Frozen page seem strange to me, and I think at least part of the Hans-related entry can be put back.

" As soon as Anna informs Elsa of the winter she's caused, Elsa begins to have a panic attack. It's scary enough to see Elsa in that condition, but what makes it more so is her panic attack is frighteningly realistic. It really doesn't help that Anna genuinely is making it worse.

The scene when Elsa tells her father to back off because she is scared of icing him is mostly tearjerking...but takes a really creepy vibe in the Cantonese dub, where it is rather eerily similar to a certain Hong Kong government child molestation ad from the '90s (except with the harm reversed) that is probably still the scariest thing in the minds of many 90s HK kids. "

edited 10th Jun '18 9:41:13 PM by lalalei2001

A question's come up on the NightmareFuel.RWBY page. See the question here.

In short, it's raising the issue of how music and song lyrics should be handled under the Nightmare Fuel trope, including soundtracks for shows.

Lyrics can basically be handled similar to poetry, and by extension prose.

As for the music itself, going by music tropes is probably a good start.

I replied to the question on RWBY's discussion page, here's what I said:

I'll never forget that one guy who listened to that one song where Eminem muders his girlfriend and buries her, as a way to relax...

Bringing up this example from Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW):

• Nightmare Fuel: Where did Eggman go after Sonic Forces? He's been hiding out in an abandoned house in an unassuming neighborhood, right next door to an unsuspecting family. When he first appears, he's peeking through the blinds at a young boy with his distinctive manic grin.

This was just added to NightmareFuel.Death Stranding:

• Lea Seydoux's character eating a squishy... thing that looks like a bug that Timon and Pumbaa would eat, except it also looks like a human fetus. And she has no problem slowly chewing it and enjoying the taste of it while the camera lingers on her face.
  "An encryptobio a day keeps the monsters away." [eats it]

Here is a link to the scene in question

I feel like it's not scary at all, just gross.

Yeah, that's Squick or Nausea Fuel, not NF. I saw the trailer when it first came out, and revulsion was my first reaction, not terror.

EDIT: Also, cleaned up Soul Eater Troubled Souls, a page I made long ago and went back to maintaining. I got rid of spoilers and entries that weren't valid. What about the rest, guys?

edited 13th Jun '18 8:48:34 AM by erazor0707

About that Soul Eater fic:

• The workings of the Gemini are pretty terrible to think about. You have a monster that can split apart yet work as one to cover more ground. To users of Soul Perception, whenever one of these halves kills someone, it looks as if the soul just up and disappears for no reason at all.
  "Pretty terrible to think about" makes this sound like Fridge Horror, and "To users of Soul Perception" makes it sound like In-Universe fear. This seems like it could be an OK entry, but it might need rewriting.
• Chapter 7: One Correctional Class kid threatens to Kathi to set the whole library on fire with a Slasher Smile.
  Does he actually do it? Without context, this doesn't sound particularly scary.
• The guerilla tactics of the Twin Gentlemen, using the expansive Amazon Rain Forest as cover, become this after two certain scenes. One, after being separated from Kim and Marcellus, Jacqueline and Tsuji are taking a breather. Tsuji then spots the barrel of musket aimed right at Jackie’s head. If it weren’t for his reflexes, her head would’ve been blown clean off. Two, Kim was actually shot out of nowhere by one of them, terrifying Marcellus. Good thing she can heal.
  I assume that this is an action story, since it's based on a Shonen manga. This means that these entries are not Nightmare Fuel since they just describe characters being put in danger during combat, which is to be expected and not exceptionally scary for the genre. The second one also says that a character was terrified, which is an In-Universe reaction, and then explains that the character can heal so it's not even a big deal.
• Chapter 16: The Deep Ones: The Shady Town of Innsmouth. Obviously, it’s a shout-out to H.P. Lovecraft and the related work. That should tell you something.
  • The Deep Ones are a cult of Kishin worshippers who’d rather have Asura as the world’s guardian than Lord Death. Using Innsmouth as a lair of sorts, the Deep Ones collect souls for either themselves or to sacrifice to the Kishin. They’re also territorial and paranoid, killing off insiders that threaten to put them down. They are such a dreaded force that the townspeople live in fear of everything.
    This sounds like it could be a keeper, but the last sentence is an In-Universe reaction.
  • After that, the rest come out of hiding to prove the tale true. The townspeople run for their lives, not wanting to face their wrath. One guy poor can’t catch up to the others because his leg is hurt. A Deep One pounces him and proceeds to tear into the man as the story describes the process and aftermath in detail.
    This sounds like it might be OK, but it needs more detail. What exactly does the process entail, and what does the aftermath look like?
  • As if all that wasn’t enough, the Deep Ones can collectively transform into a disgusting entity called Yog-Sothoth composed of viscous liquid, thrashing tentacles, mouths, eyes, and fins. Ox and Crona catch hell trying to beat the thing because it can regenerate.
    A disgusting monster probably isn't enough to count as Nightmare Fuel, especially since it's a text-based story so its appearance is up to the reader's imagination. An enemy being powerful also isn't automatically scary to the viewers. The wording makes it sound like they do eventually manage to defeat it, which can further diminish the fear.
• A minor one, but when Caius briefly talks about the Vladingham Massacre at the circle, the narration lets you know Alexei and his father Vladimir were missing for several weeks until investigators found them. As scraps of flesh buried under the snow. What did Cancer do?!
• Another minor one in the same circle. Claudia's backstory involves an accident at her former school. Her Partial Transformation kicked in at the wrong time, and it badly hurt one of the girls (albeit a bully). Claudia was pretty much expelled from the Academy of Arts for accidental attempted murder.
  These two are specifically described as "minor ones" which means they aren't very scary and their writer knows it.
• In Chapter 24, we learn Cancer is using the Anria to depopulate Bermuda.
  And? A very short and un-detailed entry that convey any kind of horror.
• Ouroboros, Medusa’s greatest curse, can lock away anything about you with just a chant and a bite from a vector snake. This includes abstract concepts like a personality trait or a superpower. While it does have a limit (Kid after he connects a Line of Sanzu is too powerful to be cursed and curses can’t be stacked), the room it does have makes you wonder how far can someone be cursed the first time.
  This has a pothole to Fridge Horror. If there is a good example in the story of this curse being used in a scary way, it could be worth adding it with a detailed explanation of what happens, but as it is it's not enough to qualify.
• Medusa wanting to make the gang suffer with such wanton cruelty shows how utterly vile and horrifying she can be.
  A villain wanting to harm the heroes is not Nightmare Fuel.
• Medusa’s attempted murder of Shaula when she gleefully uses Vector Drill to pierce Shaula’s chest, trying to wrest out her soul. Like with that one scene with the Deep One, the narration doesn’t really skip out on the details.
  And like that one scene, I want to know WHAT the details are.
• The fourth and final game pits everyone against shadows that are likely a Shout-Out to the Shadow Selves of Persona 4. Born from a combination of Free’s Spatial Magic and Medusa’s Ouroboros, these things are manifestations of all of their worst flaws, insecurities, and suppressed dark thoughts. The shadows are armed with the heroes' original powers and abilities, but with Medusa’s twisted and wicked personality. They’re also absolutely brutal both physically and vocally. Naturally, everyone comes out alive… but not everyone is okay. Maka has a fatal gash across her chest from when her shadow slashed her with its scythe, Rowena is badly beaten and bruised, Tsuji is unconscious after being turned into a "human pincushion", and Caius is a mess of burns and various wounds.
  • That's the aftermath, don't forget about what happens during those fights. Kid's shadow blew both of his arms clean off, a defenseless Kilik can't do jack against his shadow and that leaves the Pot Twins alone, and Crona nearly succumbs to Mad Blood.
  This seems OK aside from the bad indentation and "don't forget" wording.
• Medusa cursing her child, taking away Ragnarok, and putting him into an And I Must Scream situation.
  And I Must Scream is a pretty scary trope, so it could qualify, but this needs more detail.
• Reanimation Magic! It allows one to resurrect a dead or half-dead being, customize it to your liking, and acquire yourself a minion. The trade-off is that said minion loses all of its free will and is stuck in an eternal limbo between life and death. The soul is entirely optional. It’s a type of Magic so heinous, so inhumane that the Witches and the DWMA, sworn enemies, see eye-to-eye on it: no one is to use it or else suffer dire consequences. Medusa knows the magic and used it on Atlas to enhance her ploy. That was just a monster, imagine it on a human.
  Unnecessary Bold Inflation.
• Although Eruka probably deserves it for running her mouth and being guilty by association, Tsuji gets so pissed off that he drowns and chokes her at the same time. Luckily, Mizune saves her, but poor Eruka is damn near traumatized by Tsuji’s rage.
  This says that the victim deserves it, and focuses on the In-Universe reaction.
• We already knew the Anria were wreaking havoc in Bermuda, but we catch another glimpse of the chaos in Chapter 36. Cancer uses surveillance show to her sister, Neptune/Kujira, a few Anria rampaging in Somerset Village, Bermuda, including a part where they tear down a building to get to the people inside. Then Henderson casually drops Bermuda’s been isolated from the rest of the world as this is going on. Neptune/Kujira is visibly disturbed.
  The last sentence is an In-Universe reaction.
• Then Clarke orders the Anria to kill the approaching police officers! They rip through the cars like wet issue paper with a humanoid Anria even flipping one over easily.
  Destroying cars isn't scary. Perhaps focusing more on the attack on the police officers would be a better idea than focusing on their cars.
• Anria are bulletproof. The one effective defense humans have against them is moot.
  This is just describing that an enemy is dangerous. Of course they have to be strong, that's what gives the story tension.
• The Anria Marlon used to attack police out of defiance towards Portis. It has eight, stalk-like legs with humanlike hands. It’s surprisingly quick for its size. At one point in the chapter, as Joe cautiously rides through Chicago Gang territory, it snatches Tsuji out of the car in one quick motion, slamming him into the ground so hard it creates a hole.
  • In said hole, it is filled with restless, caged Anria eyeing Tsuji hungrily. Then, the stalk-legged Anria attacks Tsuji out of nowhere again, almost biting off a part of Tsuji.
  This is just a scene summary.
• Tsuji vomiting blood for his classmates, friends, and family to see. This was the point the sinister nature of the Enchanted Eyes is made clear. To backtrack, he’s been experiencing physical trouble since the Knight of Dishonor incident. Getting up from his couch too fast disoriented him, doing a simple run against Black Star almost makes him collapse, and now he’s a pale, sweating, weakened, and nauseous mess of his former glory. Jacqueline is in the process of taking him to Nygus as they bump into Stein. All of a sudden, he can’t think straight, everything is spinning around, and voices register as faint to him. He mutters out a feeble “Help me” before he regurgitates blood on the doorway and Stein’s lab coat. The reveal the “curse” is something far, far, worse settled it: people with Enchanted Eyes aren’t Cursed with Awesome or Blessed with Suck, they are downright Born Unlucky.
  • That’s not even the half of it. The Enchanted Eyes are a bloodline ability. Tsuji’s children may or may not have to go through all this bullshit, too.
  • That’s not even a quarter of it! The Enchanted Eyes are so powerful that even partners with no affiliation with them can be roped into the cosmic sadist show the “curse” is playing with them. The voices that spoke to Tsuji now can speak to Marcellus, telling him it’s his fault. Then, the red lollipop he’s chewing on since Tsuji unlocked them is revealed to be somehow made of Tsuji’s blood. The poor guy reacts appropriately.
  The second bullet point is Fridge Horror.
• While Tsuji vs. Walena is pure awesome, it has a qualifying moment at the start. The effects of the Anria voodoo mask (a special Lao Walena got help to make from Henderson ^note Merely an assumption, but the likeliest one. Cancer is very busy and doesn't completely trust Walena, Kujira doesn't know all that much about Anria, leaving Henderson) are shown. Portis has been turned into blanched, feral husk of a man with spines and such jutting out of his body "like a parasite threatening to consume its host."
  According to the note, this contains speculation.

edited 13th Jun '18 10:22:16 AM by Zuxtron

So it's been 3 days, any chance I could get a response to the example I posted above?

You didn't post the entire example, and the part you left out starts with, "Turns right into Nightmare Retardant". The example itself admits that it's not an example.

Actually checking the page history, it appears the "Turns right into Nightmare Retardant" part was added after I'd brought the example here.

Then it should be removed entirely I think.