History DarkerAndEdgier / WebAnimation

** "Heroes and Monsters" ends with [[spoiler:Adam torturing Blake by stabbing her in the stomach, and then ''slicing off poor Yang's arm'' when she tries to intervene]]. Damn.

* The ''WebAnimation/ThereSheIs'' series of videos at http://www.sambakza.net/ feature Doki and Nabi, a rabbit who falls in love with a cat. The first two videos are cute and funny, showing Doki chasing Nabi despite his arguing that they are different species, then him getting her a birthday cake. The third and fourth videos show how society is REALLY against this pairing, with the two of them getting injured, property destroyed, pet dying, etc. Not so fun anymore, huh?

* The third season of ''WebAnimation/GothamGirls'' is much darker and realistic than the last 2. In fact, many {{DCAU}} fans consider this to be the ONLY canon season.

** Things continue to get worse and worse from there. "Heroes and Monsters" ends with [[spoiler:Adam torturing Blake by stabbing her in the stomach, and then ''slicing off poor Yang's arm'' when she tries to intervene]]. Damn.

** The latest seasons ''The Chorus Civil War'' takes the same format. At first it started the same way as the earlier season, and things get darker as the season progresses.
* Although already dark, Episode 10 of the webseries WebAnimation/SaladFingers could very well be ''[[UpToEleven darker than the previous episodes]].'' The episode in question is entitled "Birthday," and it starts with our protagonist Salad Fingers about to throw a party for Hubert Cumberdale, his finger puppet. He then goes to what he refers to as Milford Cubicle's corpse (which was still hanging from the rack where SF left it in the episode "Nettles") and asks it to take a hot bath and prepare for Hubert's party. SF then gets a knock at the door, and he sees a long pole that's extending to the sky. Worried about Milford, Salad Fingers leaves his horse Horace in charge of the house until he got back. He walks out into the forests and goes through some trash and finds a puppet that he calls Dr. Papanak. Dr. Papanak then examines him and unexpectedly bites him. Salad Fingers then throws him over to a horse that resembled Horace, and the puppet began to cut into the side of the horse. Salad Fingers witnesses this, and assures the horse that he knew it hurt, but he should try to hold still and let the puppet consume its blood. Salad Fingers then takes a nap and when he wakes up, he seemed older stating that he was asleep for probably 'Six Mondays.' He then goes back to his home to discover that more horses were at his house and that the flesh on Milford Cubicle's skeleton had been cleaned off. Salad Fingers is enraged and casts the horses out of his house. He then goes outside and sees the pole again and asks it if it was the ringleader behind Cubicle's fleshless corpse. However, it turns out that [[spoiler:five Salad Fingers-like beings had eaten the flesh off of the corpse and were seated at a table]]. Salad Fingers then goes to the table and sits down. The pole soon extended from the sky and a present was revealed to be at the top of it. Salad Fingers opens it and it turns out to be [[spoiler:a hat made out of Cubicle's face]]. SF puts it on, and stated that he'll wear this hat until his death.

* JibJab, originally, light in tone, went from gently mocking Bush and Kerry in 2004 to mocking [=McCain=] and Obama straight up in 2008, along with the broken promises made by presidents in election day that never come to light when they are actually in office. The "Year in Reviews" went from hoping it'll get better to, most recently, the 2008 Year in Review summing up everything that's bad, and adding "wars and famine" to the end.

* The ''ThereSheIs'' series of videos at http://www.sambakza.net/ feature Doki and Nabi, a rabbit who falls in love with a cat. The first 2 videos are cute and funny, showing Doki chasing Nabi despite his arguing that they are different species, then him getting her a birthday cake. The 3rd and 4th videos show how society is REALLY against this pairing, with the two of them getting injured, property destroyed, pet dying, etc. Not so fun anymore, huh?

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LWG05S30Ig Super Smash]], the gritty reimagining of Super Mario Bros makes itself to be a rather awesome flash.

* Although already dark, Episode 10 of the webseries WebAnimation/SaladFingers could very well be ''[[UpToEleven darker than the previous episodes]].'' The episode in question is entitled "Birthday," and it starts with our protagonist Salad Fingers about to throw a party for Hubert Cumberdale, his finger puppet. He then goes to what he refers to as Milford Cubicle's corpse (which was still hanging from the rack where SF left it in the episode "Nettles") and asks it to take a hot bath and prepare for Hubert's party. SF then gets a knock at the door, and he sees a long pole that's extending to the sky. Worried about Milford, Salad Fingers leaves his horse Horace in charge of the house until he got back. He walks out into the forests and goes through some trash and finds a puppet that he calls Dr. Papanak. Dr. Papanak then examines him and unexpectdly bites him. Salad Fingers then throws him over to a horse that resembled Horace, and the puppet began to cut into the side of the horse. Salad Fingers witnesses this, and assures the horse that he knew it hurt, but he should try to hold still and let the puppet consume its blood. Salad Fingers then takes a nap and when he wakes up, he seemed older stating that he was asleep for probably 'Six Mondays.' He then goes back to his home to discover that more horses were at his house and that the flesh on Milford Cubicle's skeleton had been cleaned off. Salad Fingers is enraged and casts the horses out of his house. He then goes outside and sees the pole again and asks it if it was the ringleader behind Cubicle's fleshless corpse. However, it turns out that [[spoiler:five Salad Fingers-like beings had eaten the flesh off of the corpse and were seated at a table]]. Salad Fingers then goes to the table and sits down. The pole soon extended from the sky and a present was revealed to be at the top of it. Salad Fingers opens it and it turns out to be [[spoiler:a hat made out of Cubicle's face]]. SF puts it on, and stated that he'll wear this hat until his death.

* ''WebVideo/MarioBrothers'' is this to the ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' franchise. King Koopa is a completely serious and terrifying villain here, and deaths are treated with the seriousness death entails.

* The third season of GothamGirls is much darker and realistic than the last 2. In fact, many {{DCAU}} fans consider this to be the ONLY canon season.

* Although already dark, Episode 10 of the webseries WebAnimation/SaladFingers could very well be ''[[UpToEleven darker than the previous episodes]].'' The episode in question is entitled "Birthday," and it starts with our protagonist Salad Fingers about to throw a party for Hubert Cumberdale, his finger puppet. He then goes to what he refers to as Milford Cubicle's corpse (which was still hanging from the rack where SF left it in the episode "Nettles") and asks it to take a hot bath and prepare for Hubert's party. SF then gets a knock at the door, and he sees a long pole that's extending to the sky. Worried about Milford, Salad Fingers leaves his horse Horace in charge of the house until he got back. He walks out into the forests and goes through some trash and finds a puppet that he calls Dr. Papanak. Dr. Papanak then examines him and unexpectdly bites him. Salad Fingers then throws him over to a horse that resembled Horace, and the puppet began to cut into the side of the horse. Salad Fingers witnesses this, and assures the horse that he knew it hurt, but he should try to hold still and let the puppet consume its blood. Salad Fingers then takes a nap and when he wakes up, he seemed older stating that he was asleep for probably 'Six Mondays.' He then goes back to his home to discover that more horses were at his house and that the flesh on Milford Cubicle's skeleton had been cleaned off. Salad Fingers is enraged and casts the horses out of his house. He then goes outside and sees the pole again and asks it if it was the ringleader behind Cubicle's fleshless corpse. However, it turns out that [[spoiler:five Salad Fingers-like beings had eaten the flesh off of the corpse and were seated at a table]]. Salad Fingers then goes to the table and sits down. The pole then extended from the sky and a present was revealed to be at the top of it. Salad Fingers opens it and it turns out to be [[spoiler:a hat made out of Cubicle's face]]. SF puts it on, and stated that he'll wear this hat until his death.

* RedVsBlue - sure, one of the main characters died almost out of the gate, but he GotBetter. It wasn't until the end of season 5 that anything serious happened. And then? The on-screen death count as of the end of Season 9 is 14 characters, consisting of (final deaths only) [[spoiler: Flowers, Crunchbite, York, Wyoming, Andy, South, Alpha-Church's-Tex, Alpha-Church, Gary/Gamma, O'Malley/Omega, Delta, Vic/"Vic Jr", CT, Maine, and Epsilon-Tex]]. For reference, there are approximately 11 named characters known to be still alive, and the death count doesn't include [[spoiler: North, the reds/blues from Battle Creek, all of the Church time-clones, all of the Wyoming time-clones, O'Malley's robot army, Georgia, Utah, the numerous Freelancer and Separatist mooks, the Dig Site team, the REAL Dig Site team, and the UNSC forces that Maine kills]]. People have been shot, blown up, stabbed, stabbed so hard in the face that it ''shattered their helmet'', and various AI have been wiped.
** In general, you're much more likely to encounter this trope when things are animated than in the Halo engine.
** The Recollection Trilogy as a whole is MUCH darker than the Blood Gulch Chronicles.

* The ''ThereSheIs'' series of videos at http://www.sambakza.net/ feature Doki and Nabi, a rabbit who falls in love with a cat. The first two videos are cute and funny, showing Doki chasing Nabi despite his arguing that they are different species, then him getting her a birthday cake. The third and fourth videos show how society is REALLY against this pairing, with the two of them getting injured, property destroyed, pet dying, etc. Not so fun anymore, huh?
* JibJab, originally, light in tone, went from gently mocking Bush and Kerry in 2004 to mocking [=McCain=] and Obama straight up in 2008, along with the broken promises made by presidents in election day that never come to light when they are actually in office. The "Year in Reviews" went from hoping it'll get better to, most recently, the 2008 Year in Review summing up everything that's bad, and even adding "wars and famine" to the end.

* RedVsBlue - sure, one of the main characters died almost out of the gate, but HeGotBetter. It wasn't until the end of season 5 that anything serious happened. And then? The on-screen death count as of the end of Season 9 is 14 characters, consisting of (final deaths only) [[spoiler: Flowers, Crunchbite, York, Wyoming, Andy, South, Alpha-Church's-Tex, Alpha-Church, Gary/Gamma, O'Malley/Omega, Delta, Vic/"Vic Jr", CT, Maine, and Epsilon-Tex]]. For reference, there are approximately 11 named characters known to be still alive, and the death count doesn't include [[spoiler: North, the reds/blues from Battle Creek, all of the Church time-clones, all of the Wyoming time-clones, O'Malley's robot army, Georgia, Utah, the numerous Freelancer and Separatist mooks, the Dig Site team, the REAL Dig Site team, and the UNSC forces that Maine kills]]. People have been shot, blown up, stabbed, stabbed so hard in the face that it ''shattered their helmet'', and various AI have been wiped.

* RedVsBlue - sure, one of the main characters died almost out of the gate, but HeGotBetter. It wasn't until the end of season 5 that anything serious happened. And then? The on-screen death count as of the end of Season 9 is 14 characters, consisting of (final deaths only) [[spoiler: Flowers, Crunchbite, York, Wyoming, Andy, South, Alpha-Church's-Tex, Alpha-Church, Gary/Gamma, O'Malley/Omega, Delta, Vic/"Vic Jr", CT, Maine, and Epsilon-Tex]]. For reference, there are approximately 11 named characters known to be still alive, and the death count doesn't include [[spoiler: North, the reds/blues from Battle Creek, all of the Church time-clones, all of the Wyoming time-clones, O'Malley's robot army, Georgia, Utah, the numerous Freelancer and Separatist mooks, and the UNSC forces that Maine kills]]. People have been shot, blown up, stabbed, stabbed so hard in the face that it ''shattered their helmet'', and various AI have been wiped.

* ''WebOriginal/HomestarRunner'' parodies this with its 2010 AprilFoolsDay gag, [[XtremeKoolLetterz HSR Xeriouxly Forxe]].

* The third season of GothamGirls is much darker and realistic than the last 2. In fact, many {{DCAU}} fans consider this to be the ONLY canon season.

** [[IGotBetter It got better]].

* ''HomestarRunner'' parodies this with its 2010 AprilFoolsDay gag, [[XtremeKoolLetterz HSR Xeriouxly Forxe]].