Now with a sandbox!
It appears that many Nightmare Fuel pages have problems, including:
1. Listing non-scary things that made the viewer feel slightly uncomfortable at worst.
2. Having spoiler tags on them (which is against the page's guidelines).
3. Listing Fridge Horror and fan theories.
And much more!
On a few occasions, people from outside the site's community have pointed out our overly lax usage of Nightmare Fuel to make fun of us, meaning that it can legitimately harm our reputation to let this go unchecked.
The TRS thread
meant for redefining Nightmare Fuel started to become a place for cleaning up Nightmare Fuel pages in general, so we may as well move these discussions to Long Term Projects where they belong.
Here are the guidelines to determine whether something is Nightmare Fuel or not.
- This is a page whose name is intended to be taken more literally than most. It's not enough for material to be scary; to truly qualify, it has to be frightening enough to legitimately unnerve/disturb the viewer, with actually being nightmare-inducing as the ultimate endpoint.
- Good signs that something IS Nightmare Fuel include if:
- It left you feeling shaken even after the credits had rolled, you turned the last page, or are otherwise done with the work.
- You have a hard time falling asleep if you think about it at night, or have a literal nightmare about it.
- You dread that episode, scene, level, chapter, or song during re-watches, and consider skipping it.
- With that said, don't add something just because it happens to be your personal phobia. For example, spiders can be scary and many people have arachnophobia, but just because a spider happens to be in the work, it does not make a Nightmare Fuel entry. It needs to reasonably be scary to someone without the phobia.
- Don't confuse tension with fear. If the hero is in trouble, but you know he'll make it out okay at the end, it's probably not Nightmare Fuel unless the threat is especially disturbing.
- Good signs that something IS Nightmare Fuel include if:
- Explain WHY the entry scared you. Try to convey your sense of fear to your readers. Avoid putting up Zero-Context Examples.
- Remember that Weblinks Are Not Examples, and neither are quotes on their own. You should explain the horror in your own words, rather than rely on others to do so.
- Don't add things that might have scared someone. If it didn't scare you, and you don't personally know anyone else who was scared, you shouldn't be adding it to Nightmare Fuel.
- Nightmare Fuel should stick to you even after you're done with the work.
- If something is initially presented as scary but turns out to be harmless, it's most likely not Nightmare Fuel since The Reveal makes the scariness vanish.
- Jump Scares are a good source of Nightmare Fuel, but not all of them automatically qualify: being startled is not the same as being scared.
- Hypotheticals are not Nightmare Fuel:
- Remember that Trailers Always Lie: a scene that is presented as scary in the trailer could very well turn out to be inoffensive in the finished work. Only add examples from unreleased works if they were especially terrifying in the previews.
- Fan theories do not belong on the Nightmare Fuel page under any circumstance. No matter how much evidence they have to support them, don't add them until they've been officially confirmed. In the meanwhile, take them to Wild Mass Guessing.
- Fridge Horror goes on the Fridge page, not Nightmare Fuel. Don't add it unless it's Ascended Fridge Horror.
- Keep in mind the work's intended audience when considering whether or not something is Nightmare Fuel.
- If something is normal or expected in the genre, it does not automatically qualify. Violence in a Fighting Series or gore in a horror movie must be especially disturbing or gruesome by the work's standards to be Nightmare Fuel.
- Remember that Kids Shouldn't Watch Horror Films. If a work is rated PG-13 or higher but would only be scary to young children, it's not Nightmare Fuel.
- The standards on what qualifies as Nightmare Fuel are especially stringent on works aimed at children and pre-teens: kids have hyperactive imaginations, so even something benign can give them nightmares.
- Spoiler tags do not belong on Nightmare Fuel pages. Much of what scares us comes from inherently spoilery stuff such as death and the unknown, so finding spoilers on these pages should be expected.
- Nightmare Fuel is an Audience Reaction, so it needs to be scary for the audience. Describing how the characters react to something scary isn't needed. Just because something scares them, that doesn't mean it scares us as well.
- Nightmare Fuel is a No Real Life Examples, Please! page. Meta-examples involving the actors, production, or behind-the-scenes incidents are not allowed.
Guidelines when proposing cleanup of a page:
- Some rules are pretty objective. If you see a Zero-Context Example, Fridge Horror, Real Life example, speculation, In-Universe reaction that isn't scary to the viewers, examples that explicitly describe themselves as not being very scary (including "mildly creepy", "somewhat unnerving", and other synonymous phrases), or examples that are just scene summaries without going into detail about why it's so scary, you can (and should) remove them immediately without coming here to ask.
- You should also strip all spoiler tags from the page. Itty Bitty Wiki Tools has a tool for that, but it can cause problems, so if you use it be sure to preview the page and thoroughly look it over.
- Once you've fixed the objective issues with the page, bring it here so we can look at the more subjective problems, such as examples that may not be scary enough to qualify. If a consensus is reached that a certain entry does not qualify, it can be removed.
Edited by Zuxtron on Aug 1st 2020 at 9:40:30 AM
Angry babby
Every video game has to list a seizure warning at least on the box, for legality's sake. The Nintendo DS had one built into the system. It's jarring for a kid who doesn't quite understand what it means, but pretty sure people with epilepsy wouldn't love that a Content Warning for them is Nightmare Fuel for everybody else.
Edited by mightymewtron on Nov 21st 2020 at 3:02:10 PM
I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
I'm Sad Frogerson.
I remember as a kid, I thought that line where Eggman directly threatens to kill Amy was disturbingly harsh, even by the Darker and Edgier standards of the game. I guess it was a combination of the cold bluntness of the line combined with Deem Bristrow's intense delivery that made it stand out. Especially given the fact that Eggman usually is depicted as a more light-hearted threat depending on the game.
But yeah, cut the stuff about Sonic's Smash taunt. I doubt that taunt was a deliberate reference to that scene, and reads more like one of those forced Hilarious in Hindsight or Narm entries.
Just made the changes on Sonic Adventure 2, but I found this as well:
- There's something creepy about the gigantic GUN Military Truck chasing you in City Escape. Up until then, Sonic was dealing with bog-standard combat 'bots; then out of nowhere comes this massive truck that plows through dozens upon dozens of civilian cars with ease. It makes new players wonder: if this is what they're willing to deploy to capture a single fugitive, what kind of threat are you really up against, and what else will GUN do?
- The truck also reappears in Sonic Generations, and well... if it didn't scare you then, it certainly will now....
- GUN as a whole are pretty disturbing in hindsight. Sonic's candy coloured world is patrolled by a corrupt military that will gladly commit mass murder just to cover their own mistakes, as their first option. And they are no better after the fifty years since they leveled ARK. The bios make it clear they intentionally framed Sonic to cover up Project Shadow being released. Their primary focus upon a dangerous military weapon being released is to scapegoat and capture the world's saviour, dead or alive. Of course this at least makes the Inferred Holocaust of their base in Prison Island far less harrowing.
- The truck also reappears in Sonic Generations, and well... if it didn't scare you then, it certainly will now....
I feel like the first bullet is Fridge Horror, since it's never brought up again and the first sub-bullet is from another game all together. When it comes to GUN, later games sometimes show them working with the heroes, making them more morally grey.
Edited by ejmenendez on Nov 21st 2020 at 10:15:01 AM
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Same here, especially when I got stuck on Crazy Gadget and worried what would happen to her for the entire level.
While funny to think about, I'm pretty sure this example in Titanic: The Legend Goes On is out of place:
- Nightmare Fuel: A psychologically frightening example: As Musical Hell points out in her review of the movie, one of the passengers in the boarding montage sequence looks like Adolf Hitler. Let that sink in for a moment. Adolf Hitler...on the Titanic.
- Of course, this loses its Nightmare Fuel factor and becomes Anachronism Stew once you consider that Hitler wasn't placed in a position of power until 1933, a good twenty years after the sinking of the Titanic. In 1912, Hitler would have been selling paintings in Vienna. So once again this movie is completely oblivious to historical accuracy. Still frightening to viewers who don't know this information, though.
That’s not even Fridge Horror. It doesn’t belong anywhere on this wiki.
Very Spooky
Yeah, that’s just pure nonsense, with some natter to top it off.
back lol
So did we ever reach a consensus to cut the Sonic 2020 page?
Why would Hitler on the titanic be scary anyway? It means he could've died a freezing, watery death. Sounds Awesome to me 
Otaku
I think we need to trim this example for Titanic: The Legend Goes On. This sounds like Natter about a background character with a coincidental appearance.
kiby :]
Trim? I don't even think it should be there at all. (Unless you were using "trim" as a synonym for "cut".)
Edited by ATricksterArtist on Nov 23rd 2020 at 5:29:05 AM
(Don't) take me home.
Very Spooky
We shouldn’t just trim it, we should delete it entirely. It’s just trying to make the unfortunate design of a background character seem like something frightening.
Edited by jandn2014 on Nov 23rd 2020 at 5:30:36 AM
back lol
Otaku
I am using trim as in 'cut it out of the page'.
Berserk Button: misusing Nightmare Fuel
When everyone agrees like that, someone should go ahead and give it the axe. I took care of it.
Considering that the RWBY Nightmare Fuel needs to be updated, I have one for the Volume 8 episode Divide.
As if Ironwood hasn't passed the Moral Event Horizon by shooting down Oscar to his supposed death, this episode makes it clear that he's willing to do anything he can to keep Atlas away from Salem. When Councilman Sleet, a mere civilian politician with no training in Aura or combat, demands to know why he has declared martial law and halting the evacuation of Mantle, Ironwood walks up to him without a single word and shoots him dead. Oscar was right, Ironwood is as dangerous as Salem herself.
Edited by TheSullenCrow on Nov 24th 2020 at 8:37:04 AM
It was advised in the Image Pickin’ thread that NightmareFuel.Digimon Adventure Last Evolution Kizuna be looked at. Here are the examples.
With the how Last Evolution Kizuna was built for those who grew up with the Digimon Adventure series over the years, the dark moments of the film also grew up to match the age of the old fans of the series.
- The final battle of the film is RIPE with this for the sheer brutality Eosmon's Mega form dishes out:
- The very first attack Eosmon delivers catches Tai and Matt in a large explosion, quickly averting Bloodless Carnage for the humans for the first time as Tai's left bleeding from the attack.
- The sheer fact of how outmatched Omnimon is in the battle once Eosmon evolves. Omnimon is known for easily being one of the most powerful Digimon out there. Here? He's stuck in a desperate struggle to even fight back, none of his attacks even reaching Eosmon.
- The worst part of this is how the entire deck is stacked against Omnimon in the first place to prevent him from using Merciful Mode to gain an edge in the fight. All the DigiDestined and their Digimon are trapped under the control of Eosmon. Even if the DigiDestined present at the fight were free, Biyomon and Sora were implied to have already gone their separate ways by the time Omnimon was in battle, leaving out one of the major components needed for Merciful Mode and leaving the Royal Knight helpless in this battle.
- Eosmon eventually decides to wrap up the fight SWIFTLY once Omnimon's back is up against the wall, weaponizing their barriers as they summon them over the Royal Knight, slicing him apart to pieces before effortlessly blasting him with a laser shot, leaving him limply crashing to the ground and defusing back to a badly injured and unconscious Agumon and Gabumon.
- After this, all the brainwashed DigiDestined start to hold back Tai and Matt to stop them from getting to their injured Digimon, quickly followed by their controlled Digimon starting to beat the last two DigiDestined senseless, practically attempting to beat the two to death. If it weren't for Tai grabbing ahold of Kari's whistle...
- All of this is heavily backed with a haunting song in the background, "MENOA", which adds to the feeling of a hopeless, desperate, unwinnable battle against an unknown alien threat.
Hi. I've got a post in mind for the RWBY page, with the release of Volume 8, Chapter 2 to the public. It covers the scene where a new Grimm shows up and attacks the heroes. Here's what I had in mind:
- As Yang, Ren, Oscar, and Jaune clear Grimm out of the city, they prepare to battle an approaching pack of Sabyrs. To their surprise and confusion, the Grimm turn tail and run in apparent fear. As the four ponder what just happened, Oscar is suddenly attacked and separated from the others as a previously-unseen Grimm growls and pounces on him from out of nowhere. What follows is uncomfortably reminiscent of a wild animal attack as the audience is forced to watch the helpless Oscar kick feebly at the attacking Grimm - which bites, stomps, and throws him around repeatedly until his Aura breaks and he's knocked unconscious - all while Jaune, Ren, and Yang are powerless to help him.
Edited by Santoand on Nov 25th 2020 at 7:47:36 AM
Angry babby
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic - Season 1 received a few edits semi-recently (these are from the same troper, who has issues with grammar and natter - the "Bridge Gossip" entry went on a tangent basically missing the point of the episode's aesop by claiming "they were right to be scared because sometimes scary-looking people are predators or murderers" before I cut it out) that probably don't count, so I figured I'd bring them here. (The Toon Physics thing is like, the exact genre of NF entry I've seen mocked offsite.)
- While most Bronies will look over this for the 'Don't Judge a Book by it's Cover' lesson, they often seem to forget for most of her first appearance: Zecora was pretty darn creepy. With her yellow glaring eyes and digging at the ground ominously, remove the lesson, and you kind of can't blame the others for being scared.
- Applejack, being so small, brings up alot of Paranoia Fuel, being so small]. When she goes after Apple Bloom, the other justifiably freak out until figuring the truth, then her sister leaves her alone in a forest full of wild and dangerous animals and plants (where she thankfully survives enough to hitch a ride of Rainbow Dash), and finally in the bubble bath, she is nowhere to be seen and the other panic trying to find her(although this played is Played for Laughs as she's in a smaller bucket fully sized).
- Although, thanks to Toon Physics this doesn't happen, Twilight could have been killed with all the things that could have fallen on her. She's lucky to be alive.
- The Hydra! First, it's suspensefully foreshadowed in the episode. Then, it makes its appearance. It clearly wants to eat the ponies and it had to force the cast to take a literal Leap of Faith to escape it.
- Also, while Pinkie Pie was wrong about it being 'the doozy', it still alerted her and the others that something was up at Foggy Bottom Bog: getting them to Fluttershy first. Meaning that had it not alerted, Fluttershy could have been eaten (considering during the chase scene, she wasn't using her wings).
Edited by mightymewtron on Nov 25th 2020 at 11:48:05 AM
I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
Welcome, traveller, welcome to Omsk
These are all incredibly mild: for the first one, while Zecora is meant to look a bit creepy initially, I can't imagine even a preschooler getting nightmares from seeing her.
And the last point sounds more like Fridge Horror.
It does not matter who I am. What matters is, who will you become? - motto of Omsk Bird
This troper’s a real wimp.
I'd say they're just shoehorning them. I doubt they're actually afraid.
Berserk Button: misusing Nightmare Fuel
I agree with cutting all of these.
This is on Tiny Toon Adventures:
- The "Love Among the Toons" segment of "Spring in Acme Acres, in which Elmer Fudd as Cupid gives his job to Concord Condor and heads to Las Vegas. Fudd is soon sent back to Heaven by God who tells him that Acme Acres is wrong. He makes Fudd look through a Viewmaster where he sees the Tiny Toons in bizarre, almost [[Uncanny Valley]] plasticine models. Babs is seen skipping with Montana Max, Calamity Coyote is being chased by a lovestruck Little Beeper, and Hamton is being chased by a monstrous Elmyra in a drag racer, face looking like one of Ed "Big Daddy" Roth's Rat Fink designs.
The Elmyra one is pretty freaky
◊, but the other
◊ two
◊?
Berserk Button: misusing Nightmare Fuel
I agree, only Elmyra's looks like it might count.
Also from the MLP page linked above, I decided to delete this from the "Party of One" folder:
- Those familiar with a certain infamous fanfic will be unnerved how Rainbow Dash comes to check up on Pinkie... alone.
It's kinda fridge-y and requires external knowledge. And if you've read Cupcakes, then this scene will be very mild in comparison.
Edit: Also, cut the seizure warning example. Considering some video game systems have seizure warnings built into their boot screens (meaning you'll see a warning before even starting a game), plus Sega isn't the only company to add those to games' boot screens (Nintendo did it often; lots of GameCube and GBA games have them), that's not really unusual.
Edited by GastonRabbit on Nov 21st 2020 at 1:59:17 PM
Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.