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Changed line(s) 1,3 (click to see context) from:
* ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'':
** An InUniverse example, the pilot episode had the Grim Reaper confused and annoyed that the two children weren't afraid of him, which, along with Mandy's rather sarcastic response that he was "a truly terrifying and horrific creature", [[EstablishingSeriesMoment set the tone for the entire series to come]].
** Another in-universe example: the Boogeyman. He tries. Really.
** An InUniverse example, the pilot episode had the Grim Reaper confused and annoyed that the two children weren't afraid of him, which, along with Mandy's rather sarcastic response that he was "a truly terrifying and horrific creature", [[EstablishingSeriesMoment set the tone for the entire series to come]].
** Another in-universe example: the Boogeyman. He tries. Really.
to:
* ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'':
''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'':
** AnInUniverse example, the pilot episode had the Grim Reaper confused and annoyed that the two children weren't afraid of him, which, along with Mandy's rather sarcastic response that he was "a truly terrifying and horrific creature", [[EstablishingSeriesMoment set the tone for the entire series to come]].
** Anotherin-universe example: example with [[NamedAfterSomeoneFamous Willie Nelson]], a monster who lives in the Boogeyman. Aqua Teens' attic, but isn't very good at being scary even when Master Shake tries to teach him how to. [[CannibalLarder And then they find out what the attic looks like...]]
** There's also the episode with a [[EvilDoll sinister ventriloquist doll]] who marks his entrance going "Kill...KILL...'''KILL'''!" with a dramatic close-up and ominous music. Hetries. Really.quickly turns out to be completely harmless, and more annoying than anything else. Then they find out Carl got a similar doll who says "Die!" instead of "Kill!" and the two hook up.
** And then the episode where Frylock kills Shake, Meatwad, and Carl, who come back as zombies to torment him into a nervous breakdown as his house burns down around him. Then they start getting into a repetitive, [[OverlyLongGag overly-long argument]] and it turns funny again.
** An
** Another
** There's also the episode with a [[EvilDoll sinister ventriloquist doll]] who marks his entrance going "Kill...KILL...'''KILL'''!" with a dramatic close-up and ominous music. He
** And then the episode where Frylock kills Shake, Meatwad, and Carl, who come back as zombies to torment him into a nervous breakdown as his house burns down around him. Then they start getting into a repetitive, [[OverlyLongGag overly-long argument]] and it turns funny again.
Changed line(s) 5,19 (click to see context) from:
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** A non Treehouse of Horror example is the Screamatorium, a very low budget and pathetic ghost ride that features cheap ghosts stuck to the walls, a coffin containing nothing but a spring, a skeleton that goes hee-haw like a donkey, and an old woman displaying "the ravages of age".
** There is a Treehouse of Horror episode where Flanders attempts to make a "Hell House", a religious alternative to Halloween haunted houses with the intent to scare people, in this case, children, into being a good Christian. It starts off as Nightmare Retardant, with a crappy sketch where Skinner gets hit by a cardboard bus after looking at a smutty magazine, punished for thinking the human body is beautiful. The children think it's stupid, and thus fails in converting them, so Flanders prays to God to give him the ability to scare the kids into religion. This trope is subverted: God answers, and Flanders turns into a Satan-looking monster and forces them to sit in a hellish realm and watch several scenes featuring the consequences of the seven deadly sins. By the end, the children promise to be good Christians.
** Inverted and played for laughs with The Grumple, a character from an ice-show that looks like a man in a Dr. Suess-ian suit. Later in the episode, Homer knocks it out in a bar fight, and we see it has green blood.
--->'''Homer''': What the hell ''is'' this thing?
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''
** One episode has live-action footage of "giant" guinea pigs terrorizing the town and its citizens.
---> It's a [[BearsAreBadNews Guinea Bear]]!
---> No, it's a [[EekAMouse guinea mouse]], stupid!
** The episode "Cow Days" had another deliberate example of this too, with a haunted house that was decidedly un-scary.
--->"So, the Chamber of Farts has another victim, eh? Don't worry; there are no ghouls here. Only... ''farts!''"
** "Woodland Critter Christmas" has the newly-born Anti-Christ, who looks like a hairless rat with horns and makes high-pitched gibberish sounds. It's killed when Santa Claus whacks it with a hammer.
--> '''Stan:''' What the hell is ''that''?!
* ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' spoofed this trope a couple of times. Remember the disgusting, horrifying and unspeakably grotesque [[{{Narm}} ROOM WITH A MOOSE]]?? Ultra Peepi to a lesser extent. His unbearable cuteness sweeps away all the horror he fairly causes among people at first, which makes it a whole lot easier for him to destroy the city (even the military refuses to attack the cute giant hamster). But the point is that Ultra Peepi wasn't actually intended to be horrifying at all. He was supposed to be a genuine Nightmare Retardant, so that people wouldn't pay much attention to the havoc the hamster's creating, therefore letting themselves be gradually killed off.
* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'': parodied, how does The Flash (who switched bodies with [[BigBad Lex Luthor]]) convince the other villains he's evil? He doesn't wash his hands.
** A non Treehouse of Horror example is the Screamatorium, a very low budget and pathetic ghost ride that features cheap ghosts stuck to the walls, a coffin containing nothing but a spring, a skeleton that goes hee-haw like a donkey, and an old woman displaying "the ravages of age".
** There is a Treehouse of Horror episode where Flanders attempts to make a "Hell House", a religious alternative to Halloween haunted houses with the intent to scare people, in this case, children, into being a good Christian. It starts off as Nightmare Retardant, with a crappy sketch where Skinner gets hit by a cardboard bus after looking at a smutty magazine, punished for thinking the human body is beautiful. The children think it's stupid, and thus fails in converting them, so Flanders prays to God to give him the ability to scare the kids into religion. This trope is subverted: God answers, and Flanders turns into a Satan-looking monster and forces them to sit in a hellish realm and watch several scenes featuring the consequences of the seven deadly sins. By the end, the children promise to be good Christians.
** Inverted and played for laughs with The Grumple, a character from an ice-show that looks like a man in a Dr. Suess-ian suit. Later in the episode, Homer knocks it out in a bar fight, and we see it has green blood.
--->'''Homer''': What the hell ''is'' this thing?
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''
** One episode has live-action footage of "giant" guinea pigs terrorizing the town and its citizens.
---> It's a [[BearsAreBadNews Guinea Bear]]!
---> No, it's a [[EekAMouse guinea mouse]], stupid!
** The episode "Cow Days" had another deliberate example of this too, with a haunted house that was decidedly un-scary.
--->"So, the Chamber of Farts has another victim, eh? Don't worry; there are no ghouls here. Only... ''farts!''"
** "Woodland Critter Christmas" has the newly-born Anti-Christ, who looks like a hairless rat with horns and makes high-pitched gibberish sounds. It's killed when Santa Claus whacks it with a hammer.
--> '''Stan:''' What the hell is ''that''?!
* ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' spoofed this trope a couple of times. Remember the disgusting, horrifying and unspeakably grotesque [[{{Narm}} ROOM WITH A MOOSE]]?? Ultra Peepi to a lesser extent. His unbearable cuteness sweeps away all the horror he fairly causes among people at first, which makes it a whole lot easier for him to destroy the city (even the military refuses to attack the cute giant hamster). But the point is that Ultra Peepi wasn't actually intended to be horrifying at all. He was supposed to be a genuine Nightmare Retardant, so that people wouldn't pay much attention to the havoc the hamster's creating, therefore letting themselves be gradually killed off.
* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'': parodied, how does The Flash (who switched bodies with [[BigBad Lex Luthor]]) convince the other villains he's evil? He doesn't wash his hands.
to:
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''
**A non Treehouse of Horror example is Brilliantly subverted in the Screamatorium, a very low budget and pathetic ghost ride that features cheap ghosts stuck to the walls, a coffin containing nothing but a spring, a skeleton that goes hee-haw like a donkey, and an old woman displaying "the ravages of age".
** There is a Treehouse of Horrorepisode where Flanders attempts "House and Garden." The episode's monsters are shadowed whenever they're shown to make a "Hell House", a religious alternative to Halloween haunted houses with the intent to scare people, in this case, children, into being a good Christian. It starts off as Nightmare Retardant, with a crappy sketch where Skinner gets hit by a cardboard bus after looking at a smutty magazine, punished for thinking the human body them creepy; when their appearance is beautiful. The children think revealed (think a giant cactus man) they're predictably silly looking. Then it's stupid, shown how they're created, and thus fails in converting them, so Flanders prays to God to give him the ability to scare the kids into religion. This trope is subverted: God answers, and Flanders turns into a Satan-looking monster and forces them to sit in a hellish realm and watch several scenes featuring the consequences of the seven deadly sins. By the end, the children promise to be good Christians.
** Inverted and played for laughs with The Grumple, a character from an ice-show that looks like a man in a Dr. Suess-ian suit. Later in the episode, Homer knocks it out in a bar fight, and we see it has green blood.
--->'''Homer''': What the hell ''is'' this thing?
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''
** One episode has live-action footage of "giant" guinea pigs terrorizing the town and its citizens.
---> It's a [[BearsAreBadNews Guinea Bear]]!
---> No, it's a [[EekAMouse guinea mouse]], stupid!
they become absolutely ''terrifying.''
** Theepisode "Cow Days" had another deliberate example of this too, with a haunted house production team admitted that was decidedly un-scary.
--->"So,they struggled to make the Chamber Scarecrow look scary. Many of Farts has another victim, eh? Don't worry; there are no ghouls here. Only... ''farts!''"
** "Woodland Critter Christmas" has the newly-born Anti-Christ, whohis intial looks like a hairless rat with horns and makes high-pitched gibberish sounds. It's killed failed largely because of how cartoonishly skinny Crane was, making him look out of place when Santa Claus whacks it with a hammer.
--> '''Stan:''' What the hell is ''that''?!
* ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' spoofed this trope a couple of times. Remember the disgusting, horrifying and unspeakably grotesque [[{{Narm}} ROOM WITH A MOOSE]]?? Ultra Peepicompared to a lesser extent. His unbearable cuteness sweeps away all the horror he fairly causes among people at first, which makes it a whole lot easier for him to destroy the city (even the military refuses to attack the cute giant hamster). But the point is that Ultra Peepi wasn't actually intended to be horrifying at all. He was supposed to be a genuine Nightmare Retardant, so that people wouldn't pay much attention to the havoc the hamster's creating, therefore letting themselves be gradually killed off.
* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'': parodied, how does The Flash (who switched bodies with [[BigBad Lex Luthor]]) convincethe other villains he's evil? He doesn't wash more realistically proportioned characters. They would tinker with his hands.design throughout the show's run until they suceeded in ''The New Batman Adventures'' by giving him an undead preacher look and recast the part with Creator/JeffreyCombs.
**
** There is a Treehouse of Horror
** Inverted and played for laughs with The Grumple, a character from an ice-show that looks like a man in a Dr. Suess-ian suit. Later in the episode, Homer knocks it out in a bar fight, and we see it has green blood.
--->'''Homer''': What the hell ''is'' this thing?
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''
** One episode has live-action footage of "giant" guinea pigs terrorizing the town and its citizens.
---> It's a [[BearsAreBadNews Guinea Bear]]!
---> No, it's a [[EekAMouse guinea mouse]], stupid!
** The
--->"So,
** "Woodland Critter Christmas" has the newly-born Anti-Christ, who
--> '''Stan:''' What the hell is ''that''?!
* ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' spoofed this trope a couple of times. Remember the disgusting, horrifying and unspeakably grotesque [[{{Narm}} ROOM WITH A MOOSE]]?? Ultra Peepi
* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'': parodied, how does The Flash (who switched bodies with [[BigBad Lex Luthor]]) convince
Changed line(s) 21,26 (click to see context) from:
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': In "Scaredy Pants" [=SpongeBob=] tries to frighten trick-or-treaters by putting a sheet over his head and pretending to be a ghost, but the kids just laugh at him and call him "The Haunted Mattress." When he has Patrick shave his body to make him appear round, they comment that he must've been demoted to a Haunted Sleeping Bag.
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'' reimagines Krang as [[CompositeCharacter an entire species akin to the Utroms called "The Kraang]]", who get around using disguises that, even compared to the stylized designs of the show, look very, very fake. They ''seem'' like they'd be borderline ParanoiaFuel... But then they start [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment speaking in nothing but redundant, corrupted metaphors or literal-minded phrases]], pretty much destroying the fear factor.
* ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'':
** An in-universe example with [[NamedAfterSomeoneFamous Willie Nelson]], a monster who lives in the Aqua Teens' attic, but isn't very good at being scary even when Master Shake tries to teach him how to. [[CannibalLarder And then they find out what the attic looks like...]]
** There's also the episode with a [[EvilDoll sinister ventriloquist doll]] who marks his entrance going "Kill...KILL...'''KILL'''!" with a dramatic close-up and ominous music. He quickly turns out to be completely harmless, and more annoying than anything else. Then they find out Carl got a similar doll who says "Die!" instead of "Kill!" and the two hook up.
** And then the episode where Frylock kills Shake, Meatwad, and Carl, who come back as zombies to torment him into a nervous breakdown as his house burns down around him. Then they start getting into a repetitive, [[OverlyLongGag overly-long argument]] and it turns funny again.
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'' reimagines Krang as [[CompositeCharacter an entire species akin to the Utroms called "The Kraang]]", who get around using disguises that, even compared to the stylized designs of the show, look very, very fake. They ''seem'' like they'd be borderline ParanoiaFuel... But then they start [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment speaking in nothing but redundant, corrupted metaphors or literal-minded phrases]], pretty much destroying the fear factor.
* ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'':
** An in-universe example with [[NamedAfterSomeoneFamous Willie Nelson]], a monster who lives in the Aqua Teens' attic, but isn't very good at being scary even when Master Shake tries to teach him how to. [[CannibalLarder And then they find out what the attic looks like...]]
** There's also the episode with a [[EvilDoll sinister ventriloquist doll]] who marks his entrance going "Kill...KILL...'''KILL'''!" with a dramatic close-up and ominous music. He quickly turns out to be completely harmless, and more annoying than anything else. Then they find out Carl got a similar doll who says "Die!" instead of "Kill!" and the two hook up.
** And then the episode where Frylock kills Shake, Meatwad, and Carl, who come back as zombies to torment him into a nervous breakdown as his house burns down around him. Then they start getting into a repetitive, [[OverlyLongGag overly-long argument]] and it turns funny again.
to:
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': In "Scaredy Pants" [=SpongeBob=] tries to frighten trick-or-treaters by putting The ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'' episode "Doug's Nightmare on Jumbo Street" has our hero suffering from nightmares after watching a sheet over his head horror movie called ''The Abnormal'' and pretending not being able to be a ghost, but work up the kids just laugh nerve to see TheReveal of the monster's true form at him and call him "The Haunted Mattress." the end. When he has Patrick shave his body to make him appear round, they comment that he must've been demoted to a Haunted Sleeping Bag.
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'' reimagines Krang as [[CompositeCharacterfinally does, it becomes an entire species akin to the Utroms called "The Kraang]]", who get around using disguises that, even compared to the stylized designs of the show, look very, very fake. They ''seem'' like they'd be borderline ParanoiaFuel... But then they start [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment speaking in nothing but redundant, corrupted metaphors or literal-minded phrases]], pretty much destroying the fear factor.
* ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'':
** Anin-universe example with [[NamedAfterSomeoneFamous Willie Nelson]], a monster who lives in the Aqua Teens' attic, but isn't very good at being scary even version of this trope when Master Shake tries to teach him how to. [[CannibalLarder And then they find out what the attic looks like...]]
** There's also the episode with a [[EvilDoll sinister ventriloquist doll]] who marks his entrance going "Kill...KILL...'''KILL'''!" with a dramatic close-up and ominous music. He quickly"The Abnormal" turns out to be completely harmless, [[PeopleInRubberSuits a guy in a lumpy, loudly-colored costume with an obvious zipper in the back]]. He then has one last dream where he and more annoying than anything else. Then his dog Porkchop encounter the Abnormal, spot its zipper, and get some good laughs when they find out Carl got a similar doll who says "Die!" instead of "Kill!" and see that the two hook up.
** And thenmonster was being played by a tower of little dogs inside the suit.
* In ''WesternAnimation/DragonTales'', this happens InUniverse in one episode whereFrylock kills Shake, Meatwad, Ord is unable to sleep after having recurring nightmares about being chased by a terrifying monster. His friends try to get him to confront his fear by dressing up as the monster, and Carl, who their costume ends up looking so goofy that Ord bursts out laughing at the sight of it and completely loses his fear of the monster.
* Spoofed on an episode of ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends''. In the episode [[Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind "Close Encounters Of The Garfield Kind"]], Jon, Garfield and Odie are watching a cheesy made-for-TV sci fi movie. One of the scenes shows what's supposed to be a creepy looking alien saying, "Greetings people of Earth. We comeback as zombies in peace. Take us to torment your leader." However, the fact that he's wearing kitchen mittens, and his space ship is clearly a cardboard prop negates any sense of fear Garfield, Jon and Odie have.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'':
** An InUniverse example, the pilot episode had the Grim Reaper confused and annoyed that the two children weren't afraid of him, which, along with Mandy's rather sarcastic response that he was "a truly terrifying and horrific creature", [[EstablishingSeriesMoment set the tone for the entire series to come]].
** Another in-universe example: the Boogeyman. He tries. Really.
* ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' spoofed this trope a couple of times. Remember the disgusting, horrifying and unspeakably grotesque [[{{Narm}} ROOM WITH A MOOSE]]?? Ultra Peepi to a lesser extent. His unbearable cuteness sweeps away all the horror he fairly causes among people at first, which makes it a whole lot easier for him to destroy the city (even the military refuses to attack the cute giant hamster). But the point is that Ultra Peepi wasn't actually intended to be horrifying at all. He was supposed to be a genuine Nightmare Retardant, so that people wouldn't pay much attention to the havoc the hamster's creating, therefore letting themselves be gradually killed off.
* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'': parodied, how does The Flash (who switched bodies with [[BigBad Lex Luthor]]) convince the other villains he's evil? He doesn't wash his hands.
* The ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' finale "Graduation" starts with Kim and Ron confronting Drakken, who had just consumed a formula that would turn him into anervous breakdown as his house burns down plant monster...but only caused him to sprout petals around him. Then they start getting his head.
-->'''Ron''': He's a pansy!
-->'''Kim''': I'd say marigold.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheMightyHeroes'' episode, "[[https://youtu.be/yHFoJnOmp3Y The Monsterizer]]" has the reassuring version that follows a beginning that is genuinely frightening for kids of a villain forcibly transforming innocent people into mindless creatures in arepetitive, [[OverlyLongGag overly-long argument]] dark house. That sequence is immediately followed by the series' title sequence which has blazing bright colours set to a rousing march as powerful superheroes are called to action to stop this horror.
* Done on purpose in the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "28 Pranks Later", where what would be genuinely scary imagery is completely neutered by the rainbow frosting on the muzzles of the ponies who were [[OurZombiesAreDifferent zombified by cookies]]. It's pretty much the only way a show in this genre andit turns funny again.time slot could do a ZombieApocalypse episode, managing to get away with the frosting on their faces dripping like fresh gore, and even including the all-important scene where the survivor approaches a couple of characters hunched over something and discovers they're zombies feasting on a fresh kill (in this case, of course, a box of cookies).
* Any recording of the ''WesternAnimation/OggyAndTheCockroaches'' episode "The Ghost Hunter" that's recorded by phone. Especially [[https://youtu.be/NyGZGY6wK5k the Chinese version]].
----
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'' reimagines Krang as [[CompositeCharacter
* ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'':
** An
** There's also the episode with a [[EvilDoll sinister ventriloquist doll]] who marks his entrance going "Kill...KILL...'''KILL'''!" with a dramatic close-up and ominous music. He quickly
** And then
* In ''WesternAnimation/DragonTales'', this happens InUniverse in one episode where
* Spoofed on an episode of ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends''. In the episode [[Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind "Close Encounters Of The Garfield Kind"]], Jon, Garfield and Odie are watching a cheesy made-for-TV sci fi movie. One of the scenes shows what's supposed to be a creepy looking alien saying, "Greetings people of Earth. We come
* ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'':
** An InUniverse example, the pilot episode had the Grim Reaper confused and annoyed that the two children weren't afraid of him, which, along with Mandy's rather sarcastic response that he was "a truly terrifying and horrific creature", [[EstablishingSeriesMoment set the tone for the entire series to come]].
** Another in-universe example: the Boogeyman. He tries. Really.
* ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' spoofed this trope a couple of times. Remember the disgusting, horrifying and unspeakably grotesque [[{{Narm}} ROOM WITH A MOOSE]]?? Ultra Peepi to a lesser extent. His unbearable cuteness sweeps away all the horror he fairly causes among people at first, which makes it a whole lot easier for him to destroy the city (even the military refuses to attack the cute giant hamster). But the point is that Ultra Peepi wasn't actually intended to be horrifying at all. He was supposed to be a genuine Nightmare Retardant, so that people wouldn't pay much attention to the havoc the hamster's creating, therefore letting themselves be gradually killed off.
* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'': parodied, how does The Flash (who switched bodies with [[BigBad Lex Luthor]]) convince the other villains he's evil? He doesn't wash his hands.
* The ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' finale "Graduation" starts with Kim and Ron confronting Drakken, who had just consumed a formula that would turn him into a
-->'''Ron''': He's a pansy!
-->'''Kim''': I'd say marigold.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheMightyHeroes'' episode, "[[https://youtu.be/yHFoJnOmp3Y The Monsterizer]]" has the reassuring version that follows a beginning that is genuinely frightening for kids of a villain forcibly transforming innocent people into mindless creatures in a
* Done on purpose in the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "28 Pranks Later", where what would be genuinely scary imagery is completely neutered by the rainbow frosting on the muzzles of the ponies who were [[OurZombiesAreDifferent zombified by cookies]]. It's pretty much the only way a show in this genre and
* Any recording of the ''WesternAnimation/OggyAndTheCockroaches'' episode "The Ghost Hunter" that's recorded by phone. Especially [[https://youtu.be/NyGZGY6wK5k the Chinese version]].
----
Changed line(s) 37 (click to see context) from:
** For anyone who found [[ZombieGait the steadily multiplying series of shambling and brain-dead Doofenshmirtz clones]] horrifying in spite of the silliness, the [[TheStinger stinger]] song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hkMPKCY_vg "Lots of Me"]] probably cleared that up real fast.
to:
** For anyone who found [[ZombieGait the steadily multiplying series of shambling and brain-dead Doofenshmirtz clones]] horrifying in spite of the silliness, the [[TheStinger stinger]] song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hkMPKCY_vg [[https://youtu.be/7hkMPKCY_vg "Lots of Me"]] probably cleared that up real fast.
Changed line(s) 39,51 (click to see context) from:
* The ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' finale "Graduation" starts with Kim and Ron confronting Drakken, who had just consumed a formula that would turn him into a plant monster...but only caused him to sprout petals around his head.
-->'''Ron''': He's a pansy!
-->'''Kim''': I'd say marigold.
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''
** Brilliantly subverted in the episode "House and Garden." The episode's monsters are shadowed whenever they're shown to make them creepy; when their appearance is revealed (think a giant cactus man) they're predictably silly looking. Then it's shown how they're created, and they become absolutely ''terrifying.''
** The production team admitted that they struggled to make the Scarecrow look scary. Many of his intial looks failed largely because of how cartoonishly skinny Crane was, making him look out of place when compared to the other more realistically proportioned characters. They would tinker with his design throughout the show's run until they suceeded in ''The New Batman Adventures'' by giving him an undead preacher look and recast the part with Creator/JeffreyCombs.
* Spoofed on an episode of ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends''. In the episode [[Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind "Close Encounters Of The Garfield Kind"]], Jon, Garfield and Odie are watching a cheesy made-for-TV sci fi movie. One of the scenes shows what's supposed to be a creepy looking alien saying, "Greetings people of Earth. We come in peace. Take us to your leader." However, the fact that he's wearing kitchen mittens, and his space ship is clearly a cardboard prop negates any sense of fear Garfield, Jon and Odie have.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheMightyHeroes'' episode, "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHFoJnOmp3Y The Monsterizer]]" has the reassuring version that follows a beginning that is genuinely frightening for kids of a villain forcibly transforming innocent people into mindless creatures in a dark house. That sequence is immediately followed by the series' title sequence which has blazing bright colours set to a rousing march as powerful superheroes are called to action to stop this horror.
* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'' episode "Doug's Nightmare on Jumbo Street" has our hero suffering from nightmares after watching a horror movie called ''The Abnormal'' and not being able to work up the nerve to see TheReveal of the monster's true form at the end. When he finally does, it becomes an in-universe version of this trope when "The Abnormal" turns out to be [[PeopleInRubberSuits a guy in a lumpy, loudly-colored costume with an obvious zipper in the back]]. He then has one last dream where he and his dog Porkchop encounter the Abnormal, spot its zipper, and get some good laughs when they see that the monster was being played by a tower of little dogs inside the suit.
* In ''WesternAnimation/DragonTales'', this happens InUniverse in one episode where Ord is unable to sleep after having recurring nightmares about being chased by a terrifying monster. His friends try to get him to confront his fear by dressing up as the monster, and their costume ends up looking so goofy that Ord bursts out laughing at the sight of it and completely loses his fear of the monster.
* Done on purpose in the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "28 Pranks Later", where what would be genuinely scary imagery is completely neutered by the rainbow frosting on the muzzles of the ponies who were [[OurZombiesAreDifferent zombified by cookies]]. It's pretty much the only way a show in this genre and time slot could do a ZombieApocalypse episode, managing to get away with the frosting on their faces dripping like fresh gore, and even including the all-important scene where the survivor approaches a couple of characters hunched over something and discovers they're zombies feasting on a fresh kill (in this case, of course, a box of cookies).
* Any recording of the ''WesternAnimation/OggyAndTheCockroaches'' episode "The Ghost Hunter" that's recorded by phone. Especially [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyGZGY6wK5k the Chinese version]].
----
-->'''Ron''': He's a pansy!
-->'''Kim''': I'd say marigold.
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''
** Brilliantly subverted in the episode "House and Garden." The episode's monsters are shadowed whenever they're shown to make them creepy; when their appearance is revealed (think a giant cactus man) they're predictably silly looking. Then it's shown how they're created, and they become absolutely ''terrifying.''
** The production team admitted that they struggled to make the Scarecrow look scary. Many of his intial looks failed largely because of how cartoonishly skinny Crane was, making him look out of place when compared to the other more realistically proportioned characters. They would tinker with his design throughout the show's run until they suceeded in ''The New Batman Adventures'' by giving him an undead preacher look and recast the part with Creator/JeffreyCombs.
* Spoofed on an episode of ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends''. In the episode [[Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind "Close Encounters Of The Garfield Kind"]], Jon, Garfield and Odie are watching a cheesy made-for-TV sci fi movie. One of the scenes shows what's supposed to be a creepy looking alien saying, "Greetings people of Earth. We come in peace. Take us to your leader." However, the fact that he's wearing kitchen mittens, and his space ship is clearly a cardboard prop negates any sense of fear Garfield, Jon and Odie have.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheMightyHeroes'' episode, "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHFoJnOmp3Y The Monsterizer]]" has the reassuring version that follows a beginning that is genuinely frightening for kids of a villain forcibly transforming innocent people into mindless creatures in a dark house. That sequence is immediately followed by the series' title sequence which has blazing bright colours set to a rousing march as powerful superheroes are called to action to stop this horror.
* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'' episode "Doug's Nightmare on Jumbo Street" has our hero suffering from nightmares after watching a horror movie called ''The Abnormal'' and not being able to work up the nerve to see TheReveal of the monster's true form at the end. When he finally does, it becomes an in-universe version of this trope when "The Abnormal" turns out to be [[PeopleInRubberSuits a guy in a lumpy, loudly-colored costume with an obvious zipper in the back]]. He then has one last dream where he and his dog Porkchop encounter the Abnormal, spot its zipper, and get some good laughs when they see that the monster was being played by a tower of little dogs inside the suit.
* In ''WesternAnimation/DragonTales'', this happens InUniverse in one episode where Ord is unable to sleep after having recurring nightmares about being chased by a terrifying monster. His friends try to get him to confront his fear by dressing up as the monster, and their costume ends up looking so goofy that Ord bursts out laughing at the sight of it and completely loses his fear of the monster.
* Done on purpose in the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "28 Pranks Later", where what would be genuinely scary imagery is completely neutered by the rainbow frosting on the muzzles of the ponies who were [[OurZombiesAreDifferent zombified by cookies]]. It's pretty much the only way a show in this genre and time slot could do a ZombieApocalypse episode, managing to get away with the frosting on their faces dripping like fresh gore, and even including the all-important scene where the survivor approaches a couple of characters hunched over something and discovers they're zombies feasting on a fresh kill (in this case, of course, a box of cookies).
* Any recording of the ''WesternAnimation/OggyAndTheCockroaches'' episode "The Ghost Hunter" that's recorded by phone. Especially [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyGZGY6wK5k the Chinese version]].
----
to:
* The ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' finale "Graduation" starts with Kim ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** A non Treehouse of Horror example is the Screamatorium, a very low budget andRon confronting Drakken, who had just consumed a formula pathetic ghost ride that would turn him into features cheap ghosts stuck to the walls, a plant monster...coffin containing nothing but only caused him to sprout petals around his head.
-->'''Ron''': He'sa pansy!
-->'''Kim''': I'd say marigold.
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''
spring, a skeleton that goes hee-haw like a donkey, and an old woman displaying "the ravages of age".
**Brilliantly subverted in the There is a Treehouse of Horror episode "House and Garden." The episode's monsters are shadowed whenever they're shown where Flanders attempts to make them creepy; when their appearance a "Hell House", a religious alternative to Halloween haunted houses with the intent to scare people, in this case, children, into being a good Christian. It starts off as Nightmare Retardant, with a crappy sketch where Skinner gets hit by a cardboard bus after looking at a smutty magazine, punished for thinking the human body is revealed (think a giant cactus man) they're predictably silly looking. Then beautiful. The children think it's shown how they're created, stupid, and they become absolutely ''terrifying.''
thus fails in converting them, so Flanders prays to God to give him the ability to scare the kids into religion. This trope is subverted: God answers, and Flanders turns into a Satan-looking monster and forces them to sit in a hellish realm and watch several scenes featuring the consequences of the seven deadly sins. By the end, the children promise to be good Christians.
** Inverted and played for laughs with The Grumple, a character from an ice-show that looks like a man in a Dr. Suess-ian suit. Later in the episode, Homer knocks it out in a bar fight, and we see it has green blood.
--->'''Homer''': What the hell ''is'' this thing?
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''
** One episode has live-action footage of "giant" guinea pigs terrorizing the town and its citizens.
---> It's a [[BearsAreBadNews Guinea Bear]]!
---> No, it's a [[EekAMouse guinea mouse]], stupid!
** Theproduction team admitted episode "Cow Days" had another deliberate example of this too, with a haunted house that they struggled was decidedly un-scary.
--->"So, the Chamber of Farts has another victim, eh? Don't worry; there are no ghouls here. Only... ''farts!''"
** "Woodland Critter Christmas" has the newly-born Anti-Christ, who looks like a hairless rat with horns and makes high-pitched gibberish sounds. It's killed when Santa Claus whacks it with a hammer.
--> '''Stan:''' What the hell is ''that''?!
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': In "Scaredy Pants" [=SpongeBob=] tries to frighten trick-or-treaters by putting a sheet over his head and pretending to be a ghost, but the kids just laugh at him and call him "The Haunted Mattress." When he has Patrick shave his body to make him appear round, they comment that he must've been demoted to a Haunted Sleeping Bag.
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'' reimagines Krang as [[CompositeCharacter an entire species akin to theScarecrow look scary. Many of his intial looks failed largely because of how cartoonishly skinny Crane was, making him look out of place when Utroms called "The Kraang]]", who get around using disguises that, even compared to the other more realistically proportioned characters. They would tinker with his design throughout the show's run until they suceeded in ''The New Batman Adventures'' by giving him an undead preacher look and recast the part with Creator/JeffreyCombs.
* Spoofed on an episode of ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends''. In the episode [[Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind "Close Encounters Of The Garfield Kind"]], Jon, Garfield and Odie are watching a cheesy made-for-TV sci fi movie. Onestylized designs of the scenes shows what's supposed to show, look very, very fake. They ''seem'' like they'd be a creepy looking alien saying, "Greetings people of Earth. We come in peace. Take us to your leader." However, the fact that he's wearing kitchen mittens, and his space ship is clearly a cardboard prop negates any sense of fear Garfield, Jon and Odie have.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheMightyHeroes'' episode, "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHFoJnOmp3Y The Monsterizer]]" has the reassuring version that follows a beginning that is genuinely frightening for kids of a villain forcibly transforming innocent people into mindless creatures in a dark house. That sequence is immediately followed by the series' title sequence which has blazing bright colours set to a rousing march as powerful superheroes are called to action to stop this horror.
* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'' episode "Doug's Nightmare on Jumbo Street" has our hero suffering from nightmares after watching a horror movie called ''The Abnormal'' and not being able to work up the nerve to see TheReveal of the monster's true form at the end. When he finally does, it becomes an in-universe version of this trope when "The Abnormal" turns out to be [[PeopleInRubberSuits a guy in a lumpy, loudly-colored costume with an obvious zipper in the back]]. Heborderline ParanoiaFuel... But then has one last dream where he and his dog Porkchop encounter the Abnormal, spot its zipper, and get some good laughs when they see that the monster was being played by a tower of little dogs inside the suit.
* In ''WesternAnimation/DragonTales'', this happens InUniversestart [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment speaking in one episode where Ord is unable to sleep after having recurring nightmares about being chased by a terrifying monster. His friends try to get him to confront his fear by dressing up as the monster, and their costume ends up looking so goofy that Ord bursts out laughing at the sight of it and completely loses his fear of the monster.
* Done on purpose in the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "28 Pranks Later", where what would be genuinely scary imagery is completely neutered by the rainbow frosting on the muzzles of the ponies who were [[OurZombiesAreDifferent zombified by cookies]]. It'snothing but redundant, corrupted metaphors or literal-minded phrases]], pretty much destroying the only way a show in this genre and time slot could do a ZombieApocalypse episode, managing to get away with the frosting on their faces dripping like fresh gore, and even including the all-important scene where the survivor approaches a couple of characters hunched over something and discovers they're zombies feasting on a fresh kill (in this case, of course, a box of cookies).
* Any recording of the ''WesternAnimation/OggyAndTheCockroaches'' episode "The Ghost Hunter" that's recorded by phone. Especially [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyGZGY6wK5k the Chinese version]].
----fear factor.
** A non Treehouse of Horror example is the Screamatorium, a very low budget and
-->'''Ron''': He's
-->'''Kim''': I'd say marigold.
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''
**
** Inverted and played for laughs with The Grumple, a character from an ice-show that looks like a man in a Dr. Suess-ian suit. Later in the episode, Homer knocks it out in a bar fight, and we see it has green blood.
--->'''Homer''': What the hell ''is'' this thing?
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''
** One episode has live-action footage of "giant" guinea pigs terrorizing the town and its citizens.
---> It's a [[BearsAreBadNews Guinea Bear]]!
---> No, it's a [[EekAMouse guinea mouse]], stupid!
** The
--->"So, the Chamber of Farts has another victim, eh? Don't worry; there are no ghouls here. Only... ''farts!''"
** "Woodland Critter Christmas" has the newly-born Anti-Christ, who looks like a hairless rat with horns and makes high-pitched gibberish sounds. It's killed when Santa Claus whacks it with a hammer.
--> '''Stan:''' What the hell is ''that''?!
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': In "Scaredy Pants" [=SpongeBob=] tries to frighten trick-or-treaters by putting a sheet over his head and pretending to be a ghost, but the kids just laugh at him and call him "The Haunted Mattress." When he has Patrick shave his body to make him appear round, they comment that he must've been demoted to a Haunted Sleeping Bag.
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'' reimagines Krang as [[CompositeCharacter an entire species akin to the
* Spoofed on an episode of ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends''. In the episode [[Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind "Close Encounters Of The Garfield Kind"]], Jon, Garfield and Odie are watching a cheesy made-for-TV sci fi movie. One
* ''WesternAnimation/TheMightyHeroes'' episode, "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHFoJnOmp3Y The Monsterizer]]" has the reassuring version that follows a beginning that is genuinely frightening for kids of a villain forcibly transforming innocent people into mindless creatures in a dark house. That sequence is immediately followed by the series' title sequence which has blazing bright colours set to a rousing march as powerful superheroes are called to action to stop this horror.
* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'' episode "Doug's Nightmare on Jumbo Street" has our hero suffering from nightmares after watching a horror movie called ''The Abnormal'' and not being able to work up the nerve to see TheReveal of the monster's true form at the end. When he finally does, it becomes an in-universe version of this trope when "The Abnormal" turns out to be [[PeopleInRubberSuits a guy in a lumpy, loudly-colored costume with an obvious zipper in the back]]. He
* In ''WesternAnimation/DragonTales'', this happens InUniverse
* Done on purpose in the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "28 Pranks Later", where what would be genuinely scary imagery is completely neutered by the rainbow frosting on the muzzles of the ponies who were [[OurZombiesAreDifferent zombified by cookies]]. It's
* Any recording of the ''WesternAnimation/OggyAndTheCockroaches'' episode "The Ghost Hunter" that's recorded by phone. Especially [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyGZGY6wK5k the Chinese version]].
----
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
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Added DiffLines:
* ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'':
** An InUniverse example, the pilot episode had the Grim Reaper confused and annoyed that the two children weren't afraid of him, which, along with Mandy's rather sarcastic response that he was "a truly terrifying and horrific creature", [[EstablishingSeriesMoment set the tone for the entire series to come]].
** Another in-universe example: the Boogeyman. He tries. Really.
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheBackyardigans'' was ''based'' around this entire trope. The episode was titled "Scared Of You" and featured Tasha as a mad scientist with Austin playing her assistant, she gives Austin some secret notes and tells him it's a secret (a birthday invite because it's Austin's birthday in this episode) and tells him to find three monsters: A mummy king (Tyrone), a rather cute werewolf (Uniqua) and a vampire (Pablo). When he meets the mummy king at first, the mummy king is ''terrified of him'' at first but then says..."You're ''not'' scary", the same happens when he meets the werewolf and the vampire, he then points out that none of them are scary. Then at the end they reach the spooky castle where his master lives, the monsters all go and hide while he looks around, then everyone yells out "Surprise!", and a big monster dance party starts.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** A non Treehouse of Horror example is the Screamatorium, a very low budget and pathetic ghost ride that features cheap ghosts stuck to the walls, a coffin containing nothing but a spring, a skeleton that goes hee-haw like a donkey, and an old woman displaying "the ravages of age".
** There is a Treehouse of Horror episode where Flanders attempts to make a "Hell House", a religious alternative to Halloween haunted houses with the intent to scare people, in this case, children, into being a good Christian. It starts off as Nightmare Retardant, with a crappy sketch where Skinner gets hit by a cardboard bus after looking at a smutty magazine, punished for thinking the human body is beautiful. The children think it's stupid, and thus fails in converting them, so Flanders prays to God to give him the ability to scare the kids into religion. This trope is subverted: God answers, and Flanders turns into a Satan-looking monster and forces them to sit in a hellish realm and watch several scenes featuring the consequences of the seven deadly sins. By the end, the children promise to be good Christians.
** Inverted and played for laughs with The Grumple, a character from an ice-show that looks like a man in a Dr. Suess-ian suit. Later in the episode, Homer knocks it out in a bar fight, and we see it has green blood.
--->'''Homer''': What the hell ''is'' this thing?
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''
** One episode has live-action footage of "giant" guinea pigs terrorizing the town and its citizens.
---> It's a [[BearsAreBadNews Guinea Bear]]!
---> No, it's a [[EekAMouse guinea mouse]], stupid!
** The episode "Cow Days" had another deliberate example of this too, with a haunted house that was decidedly un-scary.
--->"So, the Chamber of Farts has another victim, eh? Don't worry; there are no ghouls here. Only... ''farts!''"
** "Woodland Critter Christmas" has the newly-born Anti-Christ, who looks like a hairless rat with horns and makes high-pitched gibberish sounds. It's killed when Santa Claus whacks it with a hammer.
--> '''Stan:''' What the hell is ''that''?!
* ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' spoofed this trope a couple of times. Remember the disgusting, horrifying and unspeakably grotesque [[{{Narm}} ROOM WITH A MOOSE]]?? Ultra Peepi to a lesser extent. His unbearable cuteness sweeps away all the horror he fairly causes among people at first, which makes it a whole lot easier for him to destroy the city (even the military refuses to attack the cute giant hamster). But the point is that Ultra Peepi wasn't actually intended to be horrifying at all. He was supposed to be a genuine Nightmare Retardant, so that people wouldn't pay much attention to the havoc the hamster's creating, therefore letting themselves be gradually killed off.
* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'': parodied, how does The Flash (who switched bodies with [[BigBad Lex Luthor]]) convince the other villains he's evil? He doesn't wash his hands.
* In ''WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse'', villain [[WarElephants Trumbipulor]] attempts to invoke NightmareFuel by designing his MechaMooks to look like the most horrible, menacing and scary creatures he can think of. The problem is, being an elephant, he is scared of ''mice''. Needless to say, the heroes aren't really impressed seeing robot mice attacking them.
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': In "Scaredy Pants" [=SpongeBob=] tries to frighten trick-or-treaters by putting a sheet over his head and pretending to be a ghost, but the kids just laugh at him and call him "The Haunted Mattress." When he has Patrick shave his body to make him appear round, they comment that he must've been demoted to a Haunted Sleeping Bag.
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'' reimagines Krang as [[CompositeCharacter an entire species akin to the Utroms called "The Kraang]]", who get around using disguises that, even compared to the stylized designs of the show, look very, very fake. They ''seem'' like they'd be borderline ParanoiaFuel... But then they start [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment speaking in nothing but redundant, corrupted metaphors or literal-minded phrases]], pretty much destroying the fear factor.
* ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'':
** An in-universe example with [[NamedAfterSomeoneFamous Willie Nelson]], a monster who lives in the Aqua Teens' attic, but isn't very good at being scary even when Master Shake tries to teach him how to. [[CannibalLarder And then they find out what the attic looks like...]]
** There's also the episode with a [[EvilDoll sinister ventriloquist doll]] who marks his entrance going "Kill...KILL...'''KILL'''!" with a dramatic close-up and ominous music. He quickly turns out to be completely harmless, and more annoying than anything else. Then they find out Carl got a similar doll who says "Die!" instead of "Kill!" and the two hook up.
** And then the episode where Frylock kills Shake, Meatwad, and Carl, who come back as zombies to torment him into a nervous breakdown as his house burns down around him. Then they start getting into a repetitive, [[OverlyLongGag overly-long argument]] and it turns funny again.
* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' has quite a bit of this. While there are some scary moments, they are often offset by funny moments or the LampshadeHanging of their absurdity.
** In "The Monster of Phineas-n-Ferbenstein", Dr. Doofenshmirtz's ancestor tries to transform himself into a monster using a potion he made, but he didn't check the settings of the machine that makes it, so he turned into a pink fairy instead.
** The Halloween episode "That's the Spirit" [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] and then completely [[SubvertedTrope subverts]] RealAfterAll.
--->'''Phineas''': Isn't this the moment in one of these things when someone really turns into a ghost?
--->'''Russell''': ...Dude, that's it!
--->'''Phineas''': Oh, okay. See ya next year!
** The obligatory DwindlingParty zombie episode "Night of the Living Pharmacists" has the characters turning into... [[ItMakesSenseInContext pharmacists]]. Well, technically they [[RunningGag aren't pharmacists]], but...
--->'''Film/{{Shaun|OfTheDead}}''': Don't touch me! I don't want to be a pharmac—! Wait a second... [[LampshadeHanging That doesn't even make sense. You get touched by a pharmacist, you become a pharmacist? I mean, you can't just grow a lab coat]].
--->'''Ed''': I don't know, perhaps the disease infects your clothin' as well.
--->'''Shaun''': Infects my c— Are you insinuating that my clothes are alive?
** For anyone who found [[ZombieGait the steadily multiplying series of shambling and brain-dead Doofenshmirtz clones]] horrifying in spite of the silliness, the [[TheStinger stinger]] song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hkMPKCY_vg "Lots of Me"]] probably cleared that up real fast.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Pingu}}''; despite being [[NightmareFuel the highlight for the infamy surrounding]] ''Pingu's Dream'', the walrus' laughter/chuckle isn't that hard to remind of [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Dr. Hibbert]].
* The ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' finale "Graduation" starts with Kim and Ron confronting Drakken, who had just consumed a formula that would turn him into a plant monster...but only caused him to sprout petals around his head.
-->'''Ron''': He's a pansy!
-->'''Kim''': I'd say marigold.
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''
** Brilliantly subverted in the episode "House and Garden." The episode's monsters are shadowed whenever they're shown to make them creepy; when their appearance is revealed (think a giant cactus man) they're predictably silly looking. Then it's shown how they're created, and they become absolutely ''terrifying.''
** The production team admitted that they struggled to make the Scarecrow look scary. Many of his intial looks failed largely because of how cartoonishly skinny Crane was, making him look out of place when compared to the other more realistically proportioned characters. They would tinker with his design throughout the show's run until they suceeded in ''The New Batman Adventures'' by giving him an undead preacher look and recast the part with Creator/JeffreyCombs.
* Spoofed on an episode of ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends''. In the episode [[Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind "Close Encounters Of The Garfield Kind"]], Jon, Garfield and Odie are watching a cheesy made-for-TV sci fi movie. One of the scenes shows what's supposed to be a creepy looking alien saying, "Greetings people of Earth. We come in peace. Take us to your leader." However, the fact that he's wearing kitchen mittens, and his space ship is clearly a cardboard prop negates any sense of fear Garfield, Jon and Odie have.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheMightyHeroes'' episode, "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHFoJnOmp3Y The Monsterizer]]" has the reassuring version that follows a beginning that is genuinely frightening for kids of a villain forcibly transforming innocent people into mindless creatures in a dark house. That sequence is immediately followed by the series' title sequence which has blazing bright colours set to a rousing march as powerful superheroes are called to action to stop this horror.
* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'' episode "Doug's Nightmare on Jumbo Street" has our hero suffering from nightmares after watching a horror movie called ''The Abnormal'' and not being able to work up the nerve to see TheReveal of the monster's true form at the end. When he finally does, it becomes an in-universe version of this trope when "The Abnormal" turns out to be [[PeopleInRubberSuits a guy in a lumpy, loudly-colored costume with an obvious zipper in the back]]. He then has one last dream where he and his dog Porkchop encounter the Abnormal, spot its zipper, and get some good laughs when they see that the monster was being played by a tower of little dogs inside the suit.
* In ''WesternAnimation/DragonTales'', this happens InUniverse in one episode where Ord is unable to sleep after having recurring nightmares about being chased by a terrifying monster. His friends try to get him to confront his fear by dressing up as the monster, and their costume ends up looking so goofy that Ord bursts out laughing at the sight of it and completely loses his fear of the monster.
* Done on purpose in the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "28 Pranks Later", where what would be genuinely scary imagery is completely neutered by the rainbow frosting on the muzzles of the ponies who were [[OurZombiesAreDifferent zombified by cookies]]. It's pretty much the only way a show in this genre and time slot could do a ZombieApocalypse episode, managing to get away with the frosting on their faces dripping like fresh gore, and even including the all-important scene where the survivor approaches a couple of characters hunched over something and discovers they're zombies feasting on a fresh kill (in this case, of course, a box of cookies).
* Any recording of the ''WesternAnimation/OggyAndTheCockroaches'' episode "The Ghost Hunter" that's recorded by phone. Especially [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyGZGY6wK5k the Chinese version]].
----
** An InUniverse example, the pilot episode had the Grim Reaper confused and annoyed that the two children weren't afraid of him, which, along with Mandy's rather sarcastic response that he was "a truly terrifying and horrific creature", [[EstablishingSeriesMoment set the tone for the entire series to come]].
** Another in-universe example: the Boogeyman. He tries. Really.
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheBackyardigans'' was ''based'' around this entire trope. The episode was titled "Scared Of You" and featured Tasha as a mad scientist with Austin playing her assistant, she gives Austin some secret notes and tells him it's a secret (a birthday invite because it's Austin's birthday in this episode) and tells him to find three monsters: A mummy king (Tyrone), a rather cute werewolf (Uniqua) and a vampire (Pablo). When he meets the mummy king at first, the mummy king is ''terrified of him'' at first but then says..."You're ''not'' scary", the same happens when he meets the werewolf and the vampire, he then points out that none of them are scary. Then at the end they reach the spooky castle where his master lives, the monsters all go and hide while he looks around, then everyone yells out "Surprise!", and a big monster dance party starts.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** A non Treehouse of Horror example is the Screamatorium, a very low budget and pathetic ghost ride that features cheap ghosts stuck to the walls, a coffin containing nothing but a spring, a skeleton that goes hee-haw like a donkey, and an old woman displaying "the ravages of age".
** There is a Treehouse of Horror episode where Flanders attempts to make a "Hell House", a religious alternative to Halloween haunted houses with the intent to scare people, in this case, children, into being a good Christian. It starts off as Nightmare Retardant, with a crappy sketch where Skinner gets hit by a cardboard bus after looking at a smutty magazine, punished for thinking the human body is beautiful. The children think it's stupid, and thus fails in converting them, so Flanders prays to God to give him the ability to scare the kids into religion. This trope is subverted: God answers, and Flanders turns into a Satan-looking monster and forces them to sit in a hellish realm and watch several scenes featuring the consequences of the seven deadly sins. By the end, the children promise to be good Christians.
** Inverted and played for laughs with The Grumple, a character from an ice-show that looks like a man in a Dr. Suess-ian suit. Later in the episode, Homer knocks it out in a bar fight, and we see it has green blood.
--->'''Homer''': What the hell ''is'' this thing?
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''
** One episode has live-action footage of "giant" guinea pigs terrorizing the town and its citizens.
---> It's a [[BearsAreBadNews Guinea Bear]]!
---> No, it's a [[EekAMouse guinea mouse]], stupid!
** The episode "Cow Days" had another deliberate example of this too, with a haunted house that was decidedly un-scary.
--->"So, the Chamber of Farts has another victim, eh? Don't worry; there are no ghouls here. Only... ''farts!''"
** "Woodland Critter Christmas" has the newly-born Anti-Christ, who looks like a hairless rat with horns and makes high-pitched gibberish sounds. It's killed when Santa Claus whacks it with a hammer.
--> '''Stan:''' What the hell is ''that''?!
* ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' spoofed this trope a couple of times. Remember the disgusting, horrifying and unspeakably grotesque [[{{Narm}} ROOM WITH A MOOSE]]?? Ultra Peepi to a lesser extent. His unbearable cuteness sweeps away all the horror he fairly causes among people at first, which makes it a whole lot easier for him to destroy the city (even the military refuses to attack the cute giant hamster). But the point is that Ultra Peepi wasn't actually intended to be horrifying at all. He was supposed to be a genuine Nightmare Retardant, so that people wouldn't pay much attention to the havoc the hamster's creating, therefore letting themselves be gradually killed off.
* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'': parodied, how does The Flash (who switched bodies with [[BigBad Lex Luthor]]) convince the other villains he's evil? He doesn't wash his hands.
* In ''WesternAnimation/Ben10Omniverse'', villain [[WarElephants Trumbipulor]] attempts to invoke NightmareFuel by designing his MechaMooks to look like the most horrible, menacing and scary creatures he can think of. The problem is, being an elephant, he is scared of ''mice''. Needless to say, the heroes aren't really impressed seeing robot mice attacking them.
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': In "Scaredy Pants" [=SpongeBob=] tries to frighten trick-or-treaters by putting a sheet over his head and pretending to be a ghost, but the kids just laugh at him and call him "The Haunted Mattress." When he has Patrick shave his body to make him appear round, they comment that he must've been demoted to a Haunted Sleeping Bag.
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'' reimagines Krang as [[CompositeCharacter an entire species akin to the Utroms called "The Kraang]]", who get around using disguises that, even compared to the stylized designs of the show, look very, very fake. They ''seem'' like they'd be borderline ParanoiaFuel... But then they start [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment speaking in nothing but redundant, corrupted metaphors or literal-minded phrases]], pretty much destroying the fear factor.
* ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'':
** An in-universe example with [[NamedAfterSomeoneFamous Willie Nelson]], a monster who lives in the Aqua Teens' attic, but isn't very good at being scary even when Master Shake tries to teach him how to. [[CannibalLarder And then they find out what the attic looks like...]]
** There's also the episode with a [[EvilDoll sinister ventriloquist doll]] who marks his entrance going "Kill...KILL...'''KILL'''!" with a dramatic close-up and ominous music. He quickly turns out to be completely harmless, and more annoying than anything else. Then they find out Carl got a similar doll who says "Die!" instead of "Kill!" and the two hook up.
** And then the episode where Frylock kills Shake, Meatwad, and Carl, who come back as zombies to torment him into a nervous breakdown as his house burns down around him. Then they start getting into a repetitive, [[OverlyLongGag overly-long argument]] and it turns funny again.
* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' has quite a bit of this. While there are some scary moments, they are often offset by funny moments or the LampshadeHanging of their absurdity.
** In "The Monster of Phineas-n-Ferbenstein", Dr. Doofenshmirtz's ancestor tries to transform himself into a monster using a potion he made, but he didn't check the settings of the machine that makes it, so he turned into a pink fairy instead.
** The Halloween episode "That's the Spirit" [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] and then completely [[SubvertedTrope subverts]] RealAfterAll.
--->'''Phineas''': Isn't this the moment in one of these things when someone really turns into a ghost?
--->'''Russell''': ...Dude, that's it!
--->'''Phineas''': Oh, okay. See ya next year!
** The obligatory DwindlingParty zombie episode "Night of the Living Pharmacists" has the characters turning into... [[ItMakesSenseInContext pharmacists]]. Well, technically they [[RunningGag aren't pharmacists]], but...
--->'''Film/{{Shaun|OfTheDead}}''': Don't touch me! I don't want to be a pharmac—! Wait a second... [[LampshadeHanging That doesn't even make sense. You get touched by a pharmacist, you become a pharmacist? I mean, you can't just grow a lab coat]].
--->'''Ed''': I don't know, perhaps the disease infects your clothin' as well.
--->'''Shaun''': Infects my c— Are you insinuating that my clothes are alive?
** For anyone who found [[ZombieGait the steadily multiplying series of shambling and brain-dead Doofenshmirtz clones]] horrifying in spite of the silliness, the [[TheStinger stinger]] song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hkMPKCY_vg "Lots of Me"]] probably cleared that up real fast.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Pingu}}''; despite being [[NightmareFuel the highlight for the infamy surrounding]] ''Pingu's Dream'', the walrus' laughter/chuckle isn't that hard to remind of [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Dr. Hibbert]].
* The ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' finale "Graduation" starts with Kim and Ron confronting Drakken, who had just consumed a formula that would turn him into a plant monster...but only caused him to sprout petals around his head.
-->'''Ron''': He's a pansy!
-->'''Kim''': I'd say marigold.
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries''
** Brilliantly subverted in the episode "House and Garden." The episode's monsters are shadowed whenever they're shown to make them creepy; when their appearance is revealed (think a giant cactus man) they're predictably silly looking. Then it's shown how they're created, and they become absolutely ''terrifying.''
** The production team admitted that they struggled to make the Scarecrow look scary. Many of his intial looks failed largely because of how cartoonishly skinny Crane was, making him look out of place when compared to the other more realistically proportioned characters. They would tinker with his design throughout the show's run until they suceeded in ''The New Batman Adventures'' by giving him an undead preacher look and recast the part with Creator/JeffreyCombs.
* Spoofed on an episode of ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends''. In the episode [[Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind "Close Encounters Of The Garfield Kind"]], Jon, Garfield and Odie are watching a cheesy made-for-TV sci fi movie. One of the scenes shows what's supposed to be a creepy looking alien saying, "Greetings people of Earth. We come in peace. Take us to your leader." However, the fact that he's wearing kitchen mittens, and his space ship is clearly a cardboard prop negates any sense of fear Garfield, Jon and Odie have.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheMightyHeroes'' episode, "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHFoJnOmp3Y The Monsterizer]]" has the reassuring version that follows a beginning that is genuinely frightening for kids of a villain forcibly transforming innocent people into mindless creatures in a dark house. That sequence is immediately followed by the series' title sequence which has blazing bright colours set to a rousing march as powerful superheroes are called to action to stop this horror.
* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'' episode "Doug's Nightmare on Jumbo Street" has our hero suffering from nightmares after watching a horror movie called ''The Abnormal'' and not being able to work up the nerve to see TheReveal of the monster's true form at the end. When he finally does, it becomes an in-universe version of this trope when "The Abnormal" turns out to be [[PeopleInRubberSuits a guy in a lumpy, loudly-colored costume with an obvious zipper in the back]]. He then has one last dream where he and his dog Porkchop encounter the Abnormal, spot its zipper, and get some good laughs when they see that the monster was being played by a tower of little dogs inside the suit.
* In ''WesternAnimation/DragonTales'', this happens InUniverse in one episode where Ord is unable to sleep after having recurring nightmares about being chased by a terrifying monster. His friends try to get him to confront his fear by dressing up as the monster, and their costume ends up looking so goofy that Ord bursts out laughing at the sight of it and completely loses his fear of the monster.
* Done on purpose in the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "28 Pranks Later", where what would be genuinely scary imagery is completely neutered by the rainbow frosting on the muzzles of the ponies who were [[OurZombiesAreDifferent zombified by cookies]]. It's pretty much the only way a show in this genre and time slot could do a ZombieApocalypse episode, managing to get away with the frosting on their faces dripping like fresh gore, and even including the all-important scene where the survivor approaches a couple of characters hunched over something and discovers they're zombies feasting on a fresh kill (in this case, of course, a box of cookies).
* Any recording of the ''WesternAnimation/OggyAndTheCockroaches'' episode "The Ghost Hunter" that's recorded by phone. Especially [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyGZGY6wK5k the Chinese version]].
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