Okay, I've just done some digging around, and we've got this situation:
A Wiki Talk thread was started
in September 2021. It didn't get very far before a decision was made to move it to Trope Talk here. The Wiki Talk thread was locked, and the Trope Talk thread is still open. However, the Trope Talk thread has not seen any activity since March 2022, which is when this clean-up thread was revived; unfortunately, this revival hasn't gone anywhere either for the reasons War Jay has pointed out (we don't know what to do with it because we don't know how to define or scope it).
So, at the moment, it seems like we're periodically batting Fridge around various different forums without getting anywhere in any of them. The core problem appears to be doing the work to figure out what Fridge is, what it's scope is, and what kind of examples it should therefore attract. Until that is done, I don't think the current situation will ever be resolved.
Edited by Wyldchyld on Dec 4th 2022 at 8:55:23 AM
If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.
This thread is. Very underutilized. Anyways.
This is the only thing on Fridge.Spooky Month (there are other [good] fridge examples on the main YMMV page that haven't been moved):
- The series' human antagonists usually get some kind of comeuppance proportionate to the bad things they do. Sympathetic villains usually get more leniency by the narrative, such as the Hatzgang, a group of schoolyard bullies who turn out to be not that bad, not receiving a lot of long-lasting consequence, and the Thieves, a pair of adults who commit petty crimes but are otherwise harmless, only getting jail time. On the other hands, villains who are genuinely monstrous get pretty gruesome ends, such as Dexter dying twice, Roy's Uncle being crushed to death by Eyes, and Bob Velseb (arguably the scariest villain in the show) receiving a straight up Rasputinian Death. Frank, in this regard is a Karma Houdini, but it also reflects his status as a Friendly Enemy to Skid and Pump and how he's not actually a genuine threat; while a kidnapper, Frank doesn't harm any of the kids he abducts (which, while still bad, is still leagues better than what the other show's major antagonists try to do).
It's a big Wall of Text and while I understand the point, this is less fridge and more an analysis of how Spooky Month handles its antagonistic characters.
Jawbreakers on sale for 99¢
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Yeah, seems like analysis rather than Fridge.
Trans Siberian Anarchestra (it/they)
These are at the top of Fridge.Rimworld.
- Why are Thrumbos so deadly and hard to kill? It's because they have long been hunted for their horns, so of course they would have to be tough and deadly to survive!
- Except that, in the real world, elephants are adapting to being hunted for their tusks by simply not growing tusks anymore. Acceptable Breaks from Reality prevails here: it's more fun to assume that thrumbos adapted by becoming deadlier.
- Fridge Funny: It's possible to get animals drunk/high. Like humans, they can also develop addictions and risk overdosing. They will do this entirely on their own and you can't easily make them stop.
- The fact that crops grow relatively quickly (usually within a week of being plantednote ) makes a lot more sense when you look at the lore. Every rimworld that you play on has been terraformed by some past civilization, and all of the plants are technically genetically-manipulated wonder-crops. Of course they would grow rapidly.
How sweet it is
If anyone wants to brave Fridge.Catherine...good luck. We got Thread Mode and First-Person Writing everywhere!
she/her | TRS needs your help! | Contributor of Trope Report
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic - General is one of the messiest pages I've ever seen. We have meta examples, we have natter, we have arguments breaking out, people plugging fanfics, dated entries that are years out of date, etc. I don't want to brave it alone!
To start with, here's a folder of examples that I think can be deleted for being too meta (the last example is especially egregious, as it is written about the 2011-12 season as if it's still ongoing):
- MLP: FIM's target demographic are young girls. So surely many innocent little girls would have looked up Pinkie Pie Cupcakes on youtube, just looking for the cupcake song from Call of the Cutie, only to find a horribly gory fanfic. And that would be the day their childhood ended. Amusingly, simply searching for Cupcakes on Youtube gives the fan video as the #2 result as of June 2013, meaning any kid looking for a video about how to make cupcakes might get an interesting surprise.
- Consider something else. There is Rule 34 of this. The target demographic is young girls...so imagine what would happen when they look for innocent artwork, only to discover pornographic images of ponies. And if that's not bad enough, consider the fact that somewhere out there...there is demand for this. Someone saw this and thought they wanted to sexualize it. There are people out there (nicknamed 'cloppers' in the Brony community) who are bold enough to see this show and masturbate to sexual fantasies about it.
- Goodness gracious, how dare they draw rule 34 of a popular show when there are still parents who think it's a good idea to let their little kids use Internet without any parental control?
- Goodness gracious, how terrible it is that there are people out there who think there's something iffy about pornography about cartoon horses from a series aimed at small children.
- This isn't new, there's Rule 34 of all sorts of things, including Dora the Explorer and Sesame Street, as sad as those two are. At least their art generally involves adult characters.
- Google's default settings filter those sort of images, no idea how it would judge that though
- Search images with Safe Search. Flag. Repeat.
- Consider something else. There is Rule 34 of this. The target demographic is young girls...so imagine what would happen when they look for innocent artwork, only to discover pornographic images of ponies. And if that's not bad enough, consider the fact that somewhere out there...there is demand for this. Someone saw this and thought they wanted to sexualize it. There are people out there (nicknamed 'cloppers' in the Brony community) who are bold enough to see this show and masturbate to sexual fantasies about it.
- This is actually Fridge Horror about the fandom: I can't help but notice that a lot of the fanon and fanwork that has sprung up around this show assumes the existence of a lot of bullying and other assorted cruelty in Equestria. There are fans that seem to believe that Twilight was bullied as a child, that Derpy was possibly abused and abandoned as a child by one or both parents, or that Derpy was bullied and tormented as a child and as an adult for being different, that Pinkie Pie's differences are the result of past trauma, etc., etc. This is despite the all the overt evidence that Equestria, in Chrysalis' words, is "full of love," that the ponies are, as a rule, kind, generous, and accepting, and that bullying and cruelty are rare exceptions, and not at all the norm. That said it's not entirely fair to accuse the fans of projecting their own life experiences onto Equestria, given the evidence below of bullying on the show, but it may play a factor.
- Not surprising, when one thinks about it. I'm sure it happens often enough in other fandoms that involve worlds that generally happy and peaceful.
- Perhaps only Equestria is peaceful, and the rest of the world is a horrible place. Chrysalis did say that in all the places they had traveled too, they hadn't found nearly as much love.
- Which is disturbing in of itself, when one considers the possibility that Equestria is possibly the only inhabited land on their planet.
- Possibly disproven with the 2012 SDCC Map of Equestria where there seems to be far off lands for Griffins, dragons and presumably other species. Possibly though that Equestria happens to be the most love filled or simple hyperbole.
- As mentioned above, dragons are inherently greedy assholes, and what we've seen of griffins so far hasn't exactly been rainbows and sunshine either. When compared to other parts of the world, Equestria could verily be the land with the most love.
- Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were/are all picked on as fillies, which is a form of bullying.
- With the way that background characters are very much prone to Jerkass tendencies, it isn't that difficult to believe that "Equestria has more love then anywhere else" is little more then an Informed Attribute. Also, people are fans of the Dark and Troubled Past and bullying is the most relatable problems one has in childhood.
- All said, bullying is as canon in Equestria as anything, judging from Babs Seed's episode and just about any scene with Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara, as well as the teasing that Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were seen to have undergone as fillies. Besides - given the kind of things present in Equestria, such as a God of chaos, the Gates of Tartarus within running distance of Ponyville and a sadistic King who enslaved an entire kingdom and traps ponies inside of their worst fear - the occasional foal-bully seems like the least of one's worries. Equestria is a happy place to live, no doubt, but there can be no denying that crap goes down if you happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
- More Fridge Horror regarding fandom. There are numerous cases where people ask why the heroes do something nice or not do something mean, only to claim Fridge Brilliance because it ties into their Element. What's horrifying is that this means that the viewers see the good that they do is not because they're good people, but rather out of some sense of obligation to fulfill their duties as representative of a cosmic imperative. What's worse is that our heroes fail to live up to their cosmic imperative not infrequently.
- Or they simply are good people, and that's why they got the elements in the first place.
- Yeah, but if Cherilee does something nice instead of something mean, no one asks why she did X only to claim Fridge Brilliance, because it ties to her Element. She does nice things because she's a nice person. But the way some tropers act, you'd think if people weren't tied to some magical cosmic artifact, they'd act like jerks all the time.
- Or they simply are good people, and that's why they got the elements in the first place.
- The creators seem to take innocent looking plots (Lesson Zero, Cutie Pox) and turn them into tales of horror stories...
- Speaking of, further Fridge Horror can go into the amount of Nightmare Fuel entries - how many for Season 1? 8/26. How many for Season 2 so far? 6/6. Every single Season 2 episode so far as had quite a bit of Nightmare Fuel already, far surpassing that of Season 1. How far is it going to go?!
- Wish granted: The Sisterhooves Social, a cute, friendly story about siblings fighting, then making up, as well as further proof that Sweetie Belle is a little...slow...
- "The Cutie Pox" could be counted as 5/6 if you take the whole Story of the Blanks similarities and potential death by exhaustion or dangerous cutie marks into account. But even if you don't count it, you could still say that Season 2 has half as many episodes of Nightmare Fuel so far as Season 1 did, and the Season is only a forth of the way over. As for overthinking everything, we're tropers, it's a natural thing.
- If you take the time to notice, you can see that season 2 is much more intended for a wider audience (Possibly due to the Bronies). Comparing Pinkie's breakdown with Twilight's is a good example. Pinkie's was slightly tamer and a bit more comical than Twilight's, who looked to be trying to do more harm than good. The storylines (And the friendship lessons themselves) are becoming a tad more developed and complex. For example, compare Applebuck Season with The Last Roundup.
Another issue is people thinking way too hard about things. Don't get me wrong, there are valid examples of Carnivore Confusion in the show. The example below about Rarity using glue, something often made from horses, is valid. What isn't valid is the bullets after bullets following it, theorizing on how glue in Equestrian is made, which dips into WMG. The entries below on the carousel imagery, how the ponies' biology compares to real-life equines, and so on also feel less like valid criticism/analysis and more like tropes looking for any reason to make the show seem darker than it is:
- With the way Pinkie Pie eats, had she been a real horse, she should have died several times already. Especially after eating the "baked bads".
- She's the cartooniest in a land of cartoons. Her eating habits should not be taken seriously.
- We can see several times that Rarity uses glue in the construction of her dresses. Glue is made from horse hooves.
- Stereotypically. Humans have several sources of glue, one we humans use with fabrics being polymer-based (which, if DJ P0N-3 is any indication, the ponies definitely have access to). Others, however, come from fish, cows (another FiM-sentient species), and... rabbit (used in bookbinding, a fact Fluttershy would certainly find horrifying).
- The Spa ponies might recycle the clippings from pony pedicures and boil that up to make glue.
- There's also a small possibility that ponies may harvest the hooves from dead ponies.
- Though that would still be the mark of a sociopathic society, given that respect for one's dead tends to be a big deal, so fridge horror still applies if that's true.
- Maybe ponies are given the choice of donating their hooves before they die (like how humans can choose to donate their organs or their bodies to science)?
- One of the most popular glues in human world history was made from casein, which is milk protein. The white glue most people today are familiar with (for example, Elmer's Glue All) was originally made from casein (now it's made from a petroleum-derived plastic). Casein glue has the advantage that it is less prone to softening or degrading from the effects of heat and moisture than "hide glue" made from animal skins and hooves; and would therefore be the sort that Rarity would be most likely to use for her tailoring.
- Um, where does Rarity get her cat food?! Ponies are vegetarian, they should have no business making cat food. And AJ with dog food, for that matter. And Pinkie Pie for Gummy? Although, Pinkie Pie is Pinkie Pie, so questioning that is probably a bad idea. But for the others - Vegan pet foods exist.
- Carnivorous pets have a hard time with vegan diets, and even creatures who don't eat meat understand this. It's not hard to think that they would process food for their pets that they can survive on - And farm animals could be raised for the purpose of making pet food.
- No wonder that cat hates Rarity.
- Actually, it's seen in the Sisterhooves Social episode that Rarity eats eggs. She makes some for herself and Sweetiebelle after they clean up the mess she made in the kitchen. So I guess all of the ponies aren't constricted to vegan diets.
- We see Fluttershy feeding fish to weasels and worms to birds. Apparently some animals don't get the preferential treatment.
- This is interestingly explored in the Pony POV Series where Fluttershy breaks down and turns into a Well-Intentioned Extremist Eldritch Abomination when she realizes how cruel the cycle of nature truly is.
- Humans feed their pets things we wouldn't eat ourselves all the time, so why should ponies be different in that respect? Just because herbivores are supposed to be "friendly"?
- Dogs are scavengers, and compared to cats their diets are much less stringent. Still a weird pet for a cartoon horse considering they do need some meat, but Winona won't die from eating apples and bread.
- Real life horses (and deer, and birds, and almost everything else) are opportunistic carnivores, meaning that they eat meat when and if they can get it. If the same holds for ponies, they probably don't have any problem keeping animals that eat meat, if not eating it themselves. Neither chickens nor fish seem to be sapient, and those are the two most common cat food bases.
- What about a parchment? Which is produced mainly from a calfskin. Cows in this show are sapient. And if parchment there is fabricated from reeds, or another plant, why call it 'a parchment' then?
- Parchment is also a type of high quality paper similar in color and texture to old-style calfskin parchment.
- Because if they called it reedpap we'd be confused.
- The exterior of Rarity's house is supposed to look like a carousel, complete with artificial horses with rods going through where their ribcages would be.
- Maybe, but we have a game that portrays rows and rows of humans impaled horizontally. What is this horrific game? Foosball. It would be on the same order as garden gnomes are to us.
- The show makes constant references to "Tanks" (RD comparing Tank's build to that of A tank), "Bullets" (Where a certain pony is compared as being like one), and "Cannons" (Pinkie Pie's "Party Cannon"). Why? Unfortunate Implications arise. Could it be that equestria is recovering from a horrible war, one where widespread slaughter and death took place? Could this be the reason why Celestia has so many goddamned guards, aside from being mere in-universe set decoration?
- Well, you didn't expect the likes of Nightmare Moon, Discord and King Sombra to go without a fight did ya? Its quite possible that any of the three would have an army. Albeit one of medieval knights and such instead of soldiers and war vehicles.
And, finally, people applying fridge to noncannonical memes, or trying to tie unrelated stories to the show (these also count as overthinking, especially the Scootachicken one):
- After reading about the plot of Graceling Realm, I cannot but apply it to MLP universe. What if a pony discovers that her/his talent is to kill, or to steal, or to manipulate minds, or to lie? And what are the authorities are supposed to do with said pony after such discovery?
- And in relation to that; what if you don't like your talent in general? Rarity's talent is finding gems even though she dreams of being a fashion maker and hates dirt and getting sweaty (which is normal when digging gems up) and it was pretty much 'forced' on her with a spurt of unicorn magic. Sure, she puts her talent to good use, but still...
- I think people put too much emphasis on the words "special talent". Characters have capabilities that aren't purely based on their talents. Twilight, despite having the talent "magic" works as a librarian instead of a court mage, and has a lot of skills in organizing others. Just because something is their "talent" doesn't mean they are irrevocably shackled to said talent.
- Ponies get their cutie mark when they find something that they are good at, and that they like doing, which means that even if this hypothetical murder pony is good at killing,note it isn't going to be their life's purpose unless like doing it. Which is a whole different piece of horror.
- Bloom and Gloom explicitly covers this piece of Fridge Horror. A pony's cutie mark does not define them; they define their cutie mark. Therefore, barring serious magical intervention (think Tirek, Starlight Glimmer, or that botched Starswirl the Bearded spell), it is impossible to get a cutie mark that one "does not like". This means that a pony who gets a cutie mark in violence or something would already be predisposed to violence in the first place. Even then, there are still constructive ways to spend your time that involve beating other ponies up, like MMA or the police or military.
- And in relation to that; what if you don't like your talent in general? Rarity's talent is finding gems even though she dreams of being a fashion maker and hates dirt and getting sweaty (which is normal when digging gems up) and it was pretty much 'forced' on her with a spurt of unicorn magic. Sure, she puts her talent to good use, but still...
- The “Scootachicken” meme has become an Ascended Meme. To understand this Fridge Horror, it will take understanding about sex chromosomes—starting with the well known XY system, in which every organism is by default female, but if a Y chromosome is present instead of a second X, then male parts are formed. Now, the ZW system, which is used in chickens and other avians, works the other way (male by default, but a W instead of a second Z makes a female). Back in the XY system, we notice that males have more sex-linked disorders because the Y chromosome can’t hide any alleles on the X, and vice-versa. Since the ZW system is inverted, this means females should have more sex-linked disorders… and Scootaloo is (believe it or not) female. Is that why she can’t fly?
- Horses use the XY system, so sex-chromosome linked disorders in them do follow males. However, some of the possible symtoms of Triple X syndrome (a female having three X chromosomes instead of two) include weak muscle tone and poor cooridanation, and it is quite possible to have just those two problems; some women with XXX have hardly any problems at all.
Finally, there are two individual examples I want to call attention to. First is that the very first entry on the page is just a context-free link to a fan forum listing creepy things about the show:
- The 10 Creepiest Things About My Little Pony is a list of MLP: FIM fridge horrors.
Second, this otherwise valid entry about Spike's crush on Rarity plugs a fanfic at the end; I think the paragraph should stay, but with the last line deleted:
- The fact that Spike has a crush on Rarity, and is great friends with all of the other ponies is wonderful, until you realize that dragons have a much longer lifespan than the average pony. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are basically Physical Goddesses so they're exceptions, but eventually Spike will probably outlive all of his friends. The fact that he's already younger than them supports this theory even more. There's a story called Growing Up seen here that explains this perfectly. It's beautifully written, but be warned, as it's a massive Tear Jerker.
...whew. That was a lot. Anyways, tell me what you think!
Went ahead and deleted the meta/real life examples, and also got rid of all the first-person writing I could find, as well as deleting the plugs for fan works. Would like feedback on the other examples before I work on them.
Big Catch, Sparkle Edition
IDK about the entries themselves, but the natter has to go.
Fridge is in a nebulous place right now, so I don't know if there's any line we can say "that's too far" unless we finally come to a consensus on what sort of stuff we're supposed to talk about.
Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
Logic Girl
Can out-of-date Fridge entries be removed? Because Fridge.The Mandalorian has one entry about how both protags are unnamed, which is now out-of-date since we know their names now.
For every low there is a high.
How sweet it is
Natter needs cleaning in Fridge.Futurama and Fridge.Yandere Simulator. The former also has first-person writing.
No objections here for removing inaccurate information. Just make sure you explain in an edit reason.
Edited by Berrenta on Apr 11th 2023 at 9:45:15 AM
she/her | TRS needs your help! | Contributor of Trope Report
Under Fridge.Maroon 5:
- The song Maroon 5 and Rihanna sang, "If I Never See Your Face Again," also had some Friends with Benefits vibes to top off all the horror in the situations over situations over situations. The implications Chris and Rihanna may also have indulged in this with the new "Birthday Cake" version is not lost on anyone.
First off, the first sentence is poorly written and I've read it a few times. I think it's trying to say that the song they did with Rihanna is about a friendship with benefits turned abusive. (I don't see the second half of that as true; while I do believe the characters are friends with benefits, it doesn't seem abusive, just unhappy, which is why they call t quits by the end of the song.) More importantly, the second sentence is implying that she did this in real life with her abusive ex, Chris Brown, and that's what their song "Birthday Cake" is. Ignoring the fact that this is on a page for Maroon 5, not Rihanna or Brown, I think that this counts as real-life troping and is thus inappropriate. Permission to cut?
Rookie Trope Repairer
Is this Fridge.The Lego Movie Fridge Brilliance example Fan Myopia? If nothing else, the second sentence has poor grammar and the example in general makes no attempt to explain itself:
- Why is it that Finn's name is Finn? Watch Adventure Time episode "All the Little People" and you will understand. The entire movie is a whole bloody reference.
Big Catch, Sparkle Edition
Yeah, that's a ZCE right there. "Watch the episode" helps nobody.
Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
Animu
Fridge.You And Me And Her contains only two examples:
- The song that plays on the title screen and during that one scene is Franz Liszt's Liebesträume, which translates to "Dreams of Love" - apt for the setting of the game.
- Aoi asking Shinichi if he's scared about getting cucked seems hilariously random, even from the space case that is Aoi... until later on in her route.
In the first one "that one scene" refers to Miyuki masturbating to the player. Maybe the example fits better in Genius Bonus? And if it's still Fridge Logic, can I move it to the YMMV page?
The second example talks about Aoi actually cucking Shinichi, so I think it's foreshadowing.
Angry babby
It's Fan Myopia. "All the Little People" is an allegory for fanfiction where Finn knows the little people are sentient and mostly plays with them in a shipping context, and Lego Movie Finn doesn't have much in common with Finn Mertens.
This thread actually was in TRS before it was moved to LTP. Anyways, I think a wiki talk thread will be better. I don't remember if one was made or not.
Macron's notes