History Main / AbsurdPhobia

-->'''Makima''': Coffee has no scary mental image whatsoever. If there was a Coffee Devil, it would probably be weak.

** Celty has several odd fears, in fact there’s a whole chapter of Shinra explaining that no, the world will not end in 2012, the photon belt is not sentient and will not kill everyone, tesseracts from the fourth dimension will not destroy the earth and aliens did not kill the dinosaurs. Celty herself is a [[TheGrimReaper dullahan]].

* ''Comicbook/{{Deadpool}}'': Deadpool is afraid of cows. As he puts it:
-->You ever had one of 'em ''stare you down''? It's ''chilling''! And that's all they ''do''! ''Stare'' at you. ''Waiting''.
** Conversely, him admitting this got Domino to open up and confess she's afraid of chickens... Which would factor in his ZanyScheme to get the X-Men in the clear when Norman Osborn was trying to make them out as murderers during ''Comicbook/DarkReign''. And it ''worked''.

* ''ComicBook/NewAvengers2015:'' Terry the Henchman has a crippling fear of squirrels. Of course, in the Marvel Universe, such a fear is entirely justified, because squirrels can only mean [[TheDreaded Squirrel Girl]]. Though Terry's fear is mainly their fluffy tails. His second worst fear is his fear of betrayal.

** Super-Villainess Titania had a crippling fear of Spider-Man, despite the fact that she is far stronger than him and routinely takes on stronger heroes (ComicBook/SheHulk in particular) with gusto. Her debut story in ''ComicBook/SecretWars1984'' has her get defeated in an embarrassing fashion by Spidey, and she fears he'll do it again every time she sees him. She gets over it when she realizes she's been in a battle with a disguised Spidey.

--> '''Camilo''': I hate sheep[.] I hate how they look at me, I hate how they smell, I hate the feel of fleece on my fingers, I hate the oil that's covering them...\\
'''Mirabel''': Lanolin.\\
'''Camilo''': Whatever that is, I hate that, too. If it's sheep related.\\
'''Mirabel''': That's the grease they produce.\\
'''Camilo''': Then I hate it from the bottom of my soul. And I don't know anything about wool or fleece or how to say which ram has the best one and I'd rather not come within ten feet of any ram, if I can, because they are vicious dumb creatures. So there.

* ''Fanfic/ThePokemonSquad'': It's not brought up that often, but [=RM=] is ''terrified'' of bronies.

* ''WebComic/ScarletLady'': [[WhatDoTheyFearEpisode "Sandboy"]] reveals that both Chloé and Rose are afraid of having their possessions come to life and turn against them, which is used to [[{{Foil}} highlight their differences]]: for Chloé, the idea stems from a fear of the things she ''owns'' proving to be uncontrollable, while Rose sincerely loves all her stuffed animals and is afraid her affection might not be returned. As Scarlet Lady, Chloé also mocks Rose's fear despite its similarity to her own.

-->'''Charlie''': You'll think this is a bit silly, but I'm a bit--well, I have a thing about birds.\\
'''Daisy''': What, a phobia?\\
'''Charlie''': Sort of.\\
'''Daisy''': Well, that's the common term for an irrational fear of birds.\\
'''Charlie''': What do they call a rational fear of birds, then?
* ''Literature/RoysBedoys'': “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, Roys Bedoys!” reveals that Loys is scared of feathers (or at least one particular feather).

* ''VideoGame/Afterlife1996:'' The "Fear, Unlimited" generic punishment dedicates itself to inventing new kinds of phobia, then testing them out and implementing them on the damned souls that are tossed their way to torment them more and more. Given as examples are the fear of [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou characters in a movie stepping out of the screen to murder you]] and the fear of fizzy drinks.

-->'''[=FL4K=]''': That texture. ''Ugh''.

* ''WebAnimation/ActuallyHappened'': Due to her schizophrenia, Kylie from "I Am Schizophrenic And Stopped Taking My Pills" has some pretty strange fears. She's afraid of staircases, crosswalks, the colors red and yellow, and traffic lights.

** In "That A Ghost", Old-Timey Marzipan is "suh-suh-suh-suh-suh-scared" of pumpkins. Not even jack-o-lanterns, just pumpkins growing on the vine. She's actually relieved when The Homestar Runner suggests leaving the "Punkin Patch" to go to a graveyard.
** In the 2019 Halloween episode "The Homestar Runner Enters the Spooky Woods", The Homestar Runner must travel through the spooky woods and face his fears... which take the form of a middle-school life science textbook, decorative toothpicks, and the [[ZigZaggingTrope more-understandable but still oddly-specific]] [[BreadEggsMilkSquick "dead raccoon being held by a family of wet pigeons"]].

* In ''WebComic/{{Erma}}'', the titular StringyHairedGhostGirl, who has beaten Literature/{{It}} to a pulp and leaves the monster under her bed quivering in terror, is scared of Santa Claus. Just hearing what she thinks are sleigh bells will cause her to grab a knife for protection.
* Laser Pony of The WebComic/LeagueOfSuperRedundantHeroes is ''extremely'' arachnophobic. Made absurd by the fact that whenever he's made aware of the presence of spiders, he freaks out and [[EyeBeams lasers]] everything around him until it's dead. Considering the fact that he's blind...
** His friend and fellow hero Arachno-Dude points out that he's a spider-themed hero. [[http://superredundant.com/?comic=268-revelations The results aren't pretty.]]

* ''Website/{{Cracked}}'' brings us [[https://www.cracked.com/article_16472_6-absurd-phobias-and-people-who-actually-have-them.html 6 Absurd Phobias (And The People Who Actually Have Them)]].

* In the ''Hello My Name Is Generic'' sketch ''[[https://youtu.be/CGTzWAqwHtg?si=ZR1F381IRCHFQ-h1 Homophobia]]'', Steve tells Ryan his friend Dylan is coming over and warns him that he's homophobic. Ryan, who has recently come out, complains before Steve clarifies that he is [[NotHyperbole actually afraid of gay people.]] When Dylan arrives, he immediately freaks out upon seeing Ryan and leaves. In TheStinger, Dylan screams when he runs into another man, who shouts that he's [[MistakenForGay not gay]]

** [[NoodleIncident It's not known exactly why]], but Cosmo will have a breakdown hearing the words "Super Toilet."

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''

---> '''British Dog Man''': ''"'Ello, 'ello, 'ello! Who's crike for a stick in the pudding?"''\\
'''Soos''': ''"Ahh! It's everything I ever feared!"''

---> ''(defensively)'' That's not a fear! I just don't trust the way they spin is all.

** Ron is also afraid of monkeys, one of several phobias he developed thanks to the trauma he experienced while attending [[SummerCampy Camp Wannaweep]] as a child; in this case due to the camps agressive and mean-spirited monkey mascot he was forced to share a cabin with. He gradually gets over this phobia as the show progresses, especially after he begins training in Monkey Kung-Fu, and unlocks a superpowered state known as Mystical Monkey Power, which he eventually uses to save the day in the GrandFinale. Ironically, this also nets him a monkey-themed arch enemy; [[ArrogantKungFuGuy Monkey Fist]].

* ''WesternAnimation/LittlestPetShop2012'':

** Devil Dinosaur, a ''T-Rex'' who is bigger than some of the buildings in the LES and will fight villains with no problem...is afraid of jellyfish. Specifically, he's afraid of being ''stung'' by a jellyfish.

* ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'': In the various specials, specials has Charlie Brown admit he's afraid of all sorts of things that seem silly. Partly this is justified as he often tries and fails at things to better himself. However, he does rise up to the challenge despite the odds, and tries again.

-->''"Have you ever looked into a chicken's eyes, Howard? [[ThousandYardStare There's nothing there.]]"''

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'': Chuckie has a long list of these; including shoes, green Jell-O, and [[BlandNameProduct "that guy on the oatmeal box."]] {{Exaggerated|Trope}} in another episode where Chuckie meets a kid who has even more ridiculous fears than he does, including the fear of being '''eaten''' by oatmeal.

-->'''Amy:'''' [[SarcasmMode Interesting new phobia.]]

* ''WebVideo/Formula1'': The absurdity of Pascal Wehrlein's answer of waking up early in ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgGnoIGcdYI Grid Confessions: What Scares F1 Drivers?]]'' compared to the other drivers who gave far more normal fears like spiders and heights, is highlighted by him being [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers placed last]].

* ''WesternAnimation/FetchWithRuffRuffman'': Ruff's fear of ballet [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes and spiders is somewhat]] PlayedForDrama, [[DarkAndTroubledPast because back then, Ruff was going to star in a ballet that involved fake spiders, but on opening night]] [[PrankGoneTooFar Spotnik snuck in, replaced the fake spiders with real spiders,]] [[KickTheDog and dumped them onto Ruff; which ruining the ballet and severely traumatized Ruff ever since.]] It took Brian, Sterling, and [[TheCutie Bethany's]] efforts in their challenges to help Ruff love ballet again.

* ''WesternAnimation/BackAtTheBarnyard'': In "Buyers Beware," Otis tries to scare away an old lady who he thinks is someone trying to buy the farm from them. Unfortunately, she isn't fazed by the underworld, zombies, earthquakes, locusts, or ''any'' of the creepy things Otis claims the barnyard contains. She doesn't even freak out when Otis admits he's a talking cow! Otis gives up and hands her the keys to the barn... and she freaks out and drives away because she's terrified of ''jingling keys.''

* ''WesternAnimation/BeCoolScoobyDoo'': Something of a subversion, in that the gang takes it seriously when he's confronted by it, but they aren't above mocking him when he isn't. Fred isn't afraid of heights. He's afraid of ''widths.'' He believes it's more rational than Velma's more traditional fear of water because:

* ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'': Wade Duck is afraid of an incredibly large ammount of things, that many fall into this category. Some of them include: chocolate donuts, finding out it's tuesday and being attacked by legion of crazed Pat Sajak impersonators.

--->'''Twilight:''' They're just so... ''[shudders]'' ''cheesy.''

-->''"Have you ever looked into a chicken's eyes, Howard? ''[[ThousandYardStare There's nothing there.]]"''

* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'': In the 2019 Halloween episode "The Homestar Runner Enters the Spooky Woods", The Homestar Runner must travel through the spooky woods and face his fears... which take the form of a middle-school life science textbook, decorative toothpicks, and the [[ZigZaggingTrope more-understandable but still oddly-specific]] [[BreadEggsMilkSquick "dead raccoon being held by a family of wet pigeons"]].

* In a season 3 episode of ''Podcast/Wolf359'' that [[spoiler: Jacobi]] has an "inexplicable, nearly pathological fear of ducks."

* It's a minor RunningGag in ''Radio/OldHarrysGame'' that Satan himself is creeped out by...motorcycle couriers.

* The [[AntagonistTitle titular antagonist]] of ''Roleplay/DestroyTheGodmodder'' is terrified of tubas, to the point where seeing one in his chronologically early incarnations could easily be used to deal damage. He's gotten less scared of them as he continues fighting the Descendants, however.

* In the ''VideoGame/Borderlands3'' DLC "Guns, Love, and Tentacles", Wainwright asks the Vault Hunters if there's anything that scares them. Moze is terrified of exploding bees, Amara fears her personal trainer on leg day, Zane is so terrified of birds that he can't even eat ''chicken nuggets'', and [=FL4K=] admits to being afraid of... tapioca.

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'', Exdeath is stated to have a fear of turtles, a reference to Ghido the tortoise sage from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV''.

* ''WebOriginal/VesterAndFriends'': Red Yoshi is scared of VideoGame/{{Minecraft}} because it is too pixelated.

** Rachel also claims to be afraid of fish after Phoebe tries to scare her out of living with Joey by buying him a tarantula (which he is terrified of, but Rachel loves). This is never mentioned either before or since.

* In ''VideoGame/Littlewood'', Dalton states he's terrified of vegetables due to what he describes as "[[NoodleIncident the carrot incident.]]"

* ''ComicBook/BruceWayneNotSuper'': Here, Dick Grayson picks "Robin" as his alias because he is convinced that robins are scary after one of them pecked him.
* Comicbook/{{Deadpool}} is afraid of cows. As he puts it:

* There is a ''WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse'' comic that shows Minnie being [[FurryConfusion afraid of]] [[EekAMouse mice]]. Which makes more sense than it sounds as most people would scream too, if they found a primitive hominid like say an Australopithecus waiting for them in their living room.

** Super-Villainess Titania had a crippling fear of Spider-Man, despite the fact that she is far stronger than him and routinely takes on stronger heroes (ComicBook/SheHulk in particular) with gusto. Her debut story in ''ComicBook/SecretWars1984'' has her get defeated in embarrassing fashion by Spidey, and she fears he'll do it again every time she sees him. She gets over it when she realizes she's been in a battle with a disguised Spidey.

* ''Franchise/SpiderMan'':

* Minor villain Dementoid develops one towards buttocks and anuses after ComicBook/{{Venom}} turns his rear end into a set of jaws and nearly [[{{Squick}} eats him in reverse.]]

* Phobias having to do with words are absurd enough, but it becomes downright [[ComedicSociopathy comical]] when you realize they are often named in such a way that its name triggers the fear.
** Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia - The fear of long words.
** Aibohphobia - The fear of palindromes.
* "Arachibutyrophobia" is the fear of getting peanut butter stuck to the roof of your mouth. (More specifically, being choked with it, but anyone who isn't a [[UsefulNotes/{{BDSM}} masochist]] is definitely afraid of getting choked by something, so the former definition is more widely accepted.)

:: Which is exactly a thing someone with a genuine phobia would say, though.

Compare FauxHorrific, NightmareRetardant, and WeaksauceWeakness. An IronicFear can be considered one of these. If one of these phobias is a recurring plot point, then it is WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes. In contemporary settings, when irrational fear causes magical creatures to hide from Muggles, it is a MasqueradeParadox. To the phobia sufferer, of course, it is always SeriousBusiness. This can add some levity to a WhatDoTheyFearEpisode. See also ElephantsAreScaredOfMice, where a huge and powerful animal is irrationally afraid of a small and harmless one.

* Gaz from ''Series/TwoPintsOfLagerAndAPacketOfCrisps has a crippling fear of sheep. He even sings a little ditty to himself before going to bed so that he doesn't dream about them.

** In "The One With The Home Study", Rachel reveals that she's been terrified of swingsets ever since she got her hair caught in the chain as a child. Ross makes no attempt to hid how ridiculous he thinks it is.

* ''Fanfic/ThroughHerEyes'': We don't see it at work, but Ren mentions that horses are one of the few things that make him lose his cool. [[{{Nuckelavee}} One can only wonder why.]]

-->'''Narrator:''' What are you afraid of? Is it death? Perhaps spiders? Why not be afraid of something ''original'' for once? You know what, from now on, you're afraid of farts. ''[fart sound]'' Did I scare you?
* ''Fanfic/AWitchInBroadDaylight'': [[{{ShrinkingViolet}} Fluttershy]] has a crippling fear of ghosts [[spoiler: despite [[{{FriendlyGhost}} being one herself]].]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'': Implied and then averted in the episode "Scrapheap". At first, it seems ridiculous that the gigantic Autobot warriors would be terrified of the little (even by human standards), adorable Scraplet, and the kids openly question how the Autobots could be afraid of it. It's then revealed that they have a very logical reason for their fear: Scraplets are metal-eating parasites that can eat a Cybertronian alive in minutes. Considering how they possess several rows of razor-sharp teeth and are fast enough to avoid laser blasts, the kids quickly develop a healthy fear of them, too.