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** John's fear of rabbits looks ridiculous, until the team encounters the being that caused John's trauma: [[KillerRabbit The Killer Rabbit of Caernabbog]]. [[TrappedWithMonsterPlot And there is no running away from it]]. [[ImplacableMan And there is no hiding from it]]. [[ClosedCircle And there is no calling for help]]. [[LeftYourLifesaverBehind And they tossed away the blessed hand grenade John always carried just in case]]. [[TheJuggernaut And nothing else can hurt it]]. If they survive -- and [[CharactersDroppingLikeFlies it's a very big "if"]] -- they [[TraumaButtonEnding are going to develop the same phobia]].
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** John's phobia is not absurd, it's his reaction that is absurd

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** John's phobia is not absurd, it's that strange, but his reaction to the thing that scares him is absurdabsurd.

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* '''Played For Laughs''': This trope usually is applied for this reason, especially the exaggerated version.

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* '''Played For Laughs''': Laughs''':
**
This trope usually is applied for this reason, especially the exaggerated version.version.
** John goes through a particularly absurd experience (such [[BadlyBatteredBabysitter as taking care of Alice's never-do-well younger brother]]) and [[TraumaButtonEnding spends the rest of the series deathly afraid of doing it again]].
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**WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes

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* '''Justified''': John has had traumatic experiences with all of these things. Or John has PTSD, which often causes a fear of things that are incidental to the trauma.

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* '''Justified''': '''Justified''':
**
John has had traumatic experiences with all of these things. Or John has PTSD, which often causes a fear of things that are incidental to the trauma.trauma.
** John is a very young child with not much life experience, which is why he's so afraid of things most adults would dismiss as mundane objects.
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** John is afraid of the word "Sandwich" being pronounced "Sammich".

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** John is afraid of the word "Sandwich" being pronounced "Sammich"."[[MemeticMutation Sammich]]".
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** John has braveophobia meaning he is scared of not being scared and constantly flip-flops between being calm and terrified as a result.
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** John has phobophobophobophobia the fear of the fear of the fear of phobias and phobiaphobia, meaning that, he is scared of the word phobia.
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** As the series goes on, it turns out he actually has a very good reason to have those fears.


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** ...or alternatively, the reasons for those fears turn out to be absurd in themselves.

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* '''Downplayed''': John is afraid of being near balloons, but only because he's startled by their noises when they pop.

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* '''Downplayed''': '''Downplayed''':
**
John is afraid of being near balloons, but only because he's startled by their noises when they pop.pop.
** John's phobia is not absurd, it's his reaction that is absurd
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* '''Exploited''': John's neighbor Diane keeps him out of her house by placing them all around her house.

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* '''Exploited''': John's neighbor Diane keeps him out of her house by placing them all around her house.lawn.

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** John is afraid of the word "Sandwich" being pronounced "Sammich".



* '''Parodied''': John is afraid of tricycle-riding ducks wearing teddy bear masks who eat sandwiches cooked on microwave ovens. John's therapist comments that this particular phobia is relatively common.

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* '''Parodied''': '''Parodied''':
**
John is afraid of tricycle-riding ducks wearing teddy bear masks who eat sandwiches cooked on microwave ovens. John's therapist comments that this particular phobia is relatively common.common.
** John is afraid of the word "Sandwich" being pronounced "Sammich".
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** John is ProperlyParanoid due to an encounter he had with an EldritchAbomination that can disguise itself as a sandwich.
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** Bob is afraid of the word "Sandwich" being pronounced "Sammich".

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** Bob John is afraid of the word "Sandwich" being pronounced "Sammich".
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** Bob is afraid of the word "Sandwich" being pronounced "Sammich".


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** Diane makes sandwiches.
--> '''Diane:''' Alright, everyone, I made some sandwiches for e-
--> '''*John screams and runs through the door, leaving an ImpactSilhouette*'''
--> '''Diane:''' Oh, right. ''(Yelling) Sorry, John!''
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I Ate What clean up. The trope is when a character eats something, unaware of what they are consuming, and then reacts in disgust after they find out what it is. Misuse will be deleted or moved to another trope when applicable. Administrivia.Zero Context Examples will be removed or commented out depending on the amount of context within the entry. Also, I Ate What is not a character trope.


** It's all fun and games until Diane [[CerebusRetcon discovers that John was molested as a child]] and his molester [[EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor felt it was funny]] to perform bizarre things with sandwiches, like [[IAteWhat forcing John to eat sandwiches full of scatological results]] or [[AssShove being "force-fed" sandwiches through...]] [[BrainBleach yeah...]]

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** It's all fun and games until Diane [[CerebusRetcon discovers that John was molested as a child]] and his molester [[EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor felt it was funny]] to perform bizarre things with sandwiches, like [[IAteWhat like forcing John to eat sandwiches full of scatological results]] results or [[AssShove being "force-fed" sandwiches through...]] [[BrainBleach yeah...]]

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* '''Averted''': John is afraid of spiders and heights.

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* '''Averted''': '''Averted''':
**
John is afraid of spiders and heights.heights.
** John isn't afraid of anything.
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* '''Enforced''': It's an episode that's about the main cast facing their worst fears, so it's only natural for one of them to have a weird fear to confront thanks to RuleOfFunny.

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* '''Enforced''': It's an episode that's about [[WhatDoTheyFearEpisode the main cast facing their worst fears, fears]], so it's only natural for one of them to have a weird fear to confront thanks to RuleOfFunny.
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* '''Discussed''': "It's a slapstick comedy and John [[OutsideGenreFoe is a straight-up]] SpaceMarine. Obviously they needed to make sure he's NotAboveItAll."

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* '''Discussed''': "It's a slapstick comedy and John [[OutsideGenreFoe is a straight-up]] SpaceMarine. Obviously they needed to make sure he's NotAboveItAll.NotSoAboveItAll."

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** John has pantophobia, a literal fear of everything. The only reason he hasn't been frightened to death by everything that exists is his even bigger fear of death.

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** John has pantophobia, a literal fear of everything. The only reason he hasn't been frightened to death by everything that exists is his even bigger everything... as well as phobophobia, fear ''[[ShapedLikeItself of death.phobias]]''.



** John's fears are pointedly not treated as "funny" by the rest of the cast.



* '''Discussed''': ???

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* '''Discussed''': ???"It's a slapstick comedy and John [[OutsideGenreFoe is a straight-up]] SpaceMarine. Obviously they needed to make sure he's NotAboveItAll."

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* '''Played For Horror''': Diane keeps pranking John with sandwiches because of how absurd it is. [[DeadlyPrank And then John ends up suffering a heart attack.]]

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** The phobia is absurd. What John [[FreakOut does to try to get away from it]] is not.
* '''Played For Horror''': Horror''':
**
Diane keeps pranking John with sandwiches because of how absurd it is. [[DeadlyPrank And then John ends up suffering a heart attack.]]]]
** John becomes an OmnicidalManiac to try to get rid of whatever makes him afraid forever.

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* '''Played For Drama''': John's fears make him much less functional as a human being, especially if he's afraid of things that are too common.

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* '''Played For Drama''': Drama''':
**
John's fears make him much less functional as a human being, especially if he's afraid of things that are too common.common.
** It's all fun and games until Diane [[CerebusRetcon discovers that John was molested as a child]] and his molester [[EvilHasABadSenseOfHumor felt it was funny]] to perform bizarre things with sandwiches, like [[IAteWhat forcing John to eat sandwiches full of scatological results]] or [[AssShove being "force-fed" sandwiches through...]] [[BrainBleach yeah...]]

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* '''Reconstructed''': His friends still laugh at them though as a source of BlackComedy

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* '''Reconstructed''': His friends still laugh at them though as a source of BlackComedyBlackComedy.
* '''Played For Laughs''': This trope usually is applied for this reason, especially the exaggerated version.
* '''Played For Drama''': John's fears make him much less functional as a human being, especially if he's afraid of things that are too common.
* '''Played For Horror''': Diane keeps pranking John with sandwiches because of how absurd it is. [[DeadlyPrank And then John ends up suffering a heart attack.]]

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* '''Exaggerated''': John is afraid of pink tablecloths with white polka dots, bacon-wrapped eggs, and books with an even number of pages.

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* '''Exaggerated''': '''Exaggerated''':
**
John is afraid of pink tablecloths with white polka dots, bacon-wrapped eggs, and books with an even number of pages.pages.
** John has pantophobia, a literal fear of everything. The only reason he hasn't been frightened to death by everything that exists is his even bigger fear of death.
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* '''Played Straight:''' John is afraid of sandwiches, tricycles, teddy bears, ducks, and microwave ovens.

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* '''Played Straight:''' '''Straight:''' John is afraid of sandwiches, tricycles, teddy bears, ducks, and microwave ovens.



[[AbsurdPhobia Back to... AAAGH! A trope! Don't let it eat me!]]

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[[AbsurdPhobia Back to... AAAGH! [[AbsurdPhobia A trope! Don't let it eat me!]]

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* '''Deconstructed''': John has all these fears...that are given a CerebusRetcon as he had a traumatic childhood that caused said phobias.
* '''Reconstructed''': His friends still laugh at them though as a source of BlackComedy



%%* '''Deconstructed''': ???
%%* '''Reconstructed''': ???
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** John is attracted to dangerous things that he logically should be afraid of, like cyanide and venomous snakes.

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** [[NightmareFetishist John is attracted to dangerous things that he logically should be afraid of, like cyanide and venomous snakes.]]
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[[AbsurdPhobia Back to... ''AAAGH!'' A trope! Don't let it eat me!]]

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[[AbsurdPhobia Back to... ''AAAGH!'' AAAGH! A trope! Don't let it eat me!]]

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