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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
As noted on Administrivia.Spoilers Off, Moments pages in general- including Nightmare Fuel- aren't supposed to have spoiler tags in the first place, so those are all fair game to edit out (just make sure your edit reason directs everyone to why there aren't spoiler tags on those pages and you're good to go).
Administrivia.Itty Bitty Wiki Tools has a tool for stripping spoiler tags en masse if a page is really bad with them, though I learned when I used it that the tool can miss ]] brackets or completely screw with potholes. Proofread pages before finalizing the edit, lest someone have to clean up your mess and make you feel guilty!
🏳️⚧️she/her | Vio Rhyse AlberiaSomeone created a separate thread discussing this example in Psycho:
Zero Context Example. Not everyone is going to know who Ed Gein is and the troper is expecting people to get inside their head to know what the entry is supposed to sound familiar towards.
edited 26th May '18 8:49:09 AM by Wyldchyld
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.
Berserk Button: misusing Nightmare Fuel
So NightmareFuel.Shokugeki No Soma was cleaned up not too long ago, but recently, this was added:
- The Manga is a Nightmare Fuel for all animal lovers, since many animals are butchered to create delicacies. Yūki Yoshino breeds animals and loves them, only to kill and use them as ingredients. The third match between Akira and Sōma uses meat of a freshly slaughtered bear as a theme. Rindō Kobayashi slaughters a live baby alligator and flays it at disturbing speed. In the Autumn Election, Hisako turn a softshell turtle on its back and beheads it. Rabbits, deer, ducks and even snakes are used to create dishes. Try saying delicious now.
To me, this seems to be basically saying that killing animals for meat is Nightmare Fuel. Unless you're a vegetarian/vegan, it's probably not that scary, and if you are you're probably not going to watch a show where the characters making impressive meat dishes every other episode is one of the selling points.
Also, I noticed that it says "The Manga is a Nightmare Fuel for all animal lovers". I love animals and don't find it to be the least bit frightening.
edited 27th May '18 5:52:59 PM by Zuxtron
Berserk Button: misusing Nightmare Fuel
Another thing, about this entry:
- Erina's abusive and corrupt father, Azami Nakiri, caught quite a few people off-guard. He would take Erina into a dark room, where she would have to determine which of two dishes is superior, and throw the inferior one into the trash. Should she disobeyed, he would grab her arm and twist it until she complied. Azami effectively mind-raped her into becoming the legendary harsh food critic she is by the time the story begins. Even years later, Erina suffers from PTSD as a result of Azami's abuse... until she eventually stands up to him when the Régiment de Cuisine rolls around.
The part I bolded was not there when I wrote this entry. I believe that Nightmare Fuel pages should be specifically about the scary aspects of a work, and though Erina's abusive father can qualify as scary, her standing up to him definitely doesn't (it's a huge Awesome Moment for her), so mentioning this may be irrelevant to the purpose of the page. Should this sentence be zapped?
I removed the part where Erina stands up to Azami since it's basically an Awesome moment and made some adjustments, noting that the abuse became a Trauma Button for her. At the end of Azami's entry, should we add "...until the Régiment de Cuisine", or not?
Also, would Azami's takeover of Tootsuki count as true Nightmare Fuel since he basically tries to expand his corrupt ideals into the students?
edited 27th May '18 10:42:18 PM by gjjones
He/His/Him. No matter who you are, always Be Yourself.
Berserk Button: misusing Nightmare Fuel
When asking if something is Nightmare Fuel, we can point out to you if there are any objective reasons why it isn't, but there's also a subjective aspect that only you can determine, and that's whether it scared you.
Nightmare Fuel is for things that terrified YOU, so unless you were strongly affected by it, you shouldn't add it. I mean reactions like feeling shocked for a while, even after the episode ends, not wanting to watch the episode again, maybe even having actual bad dreams about it.
If you go ahead and add it, I wouldn't cut it if it's properly written, but personally the sheer Serious Business aspect of going full Nazi over bad restaurants is a bit too hard for me to take seriously which is why I don't add it myself.
If anything, that actually disqualifies the example, based on the trope description's reference to such acts of negation effectively making it not the NF trope. So, yes, it needs to be zapped.
edited 28th May '18 3:29:14 PM by Wyldchyld
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.Like I said in my earlier post, I zapped the part where Erina stands up to Azami.
I’ll probably ask in the Shokugeki no Soma forums about about Azami taking over Tootsuki being a potential nightmare fuel example and get some feedback on it.
edited 28th May '18 5:17:28 PM by gjjones
He/His/Him. No matter who you are, always Be Yourself.
Berserk Button: misusing Nightmare Fuel
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Just because she manages to stand up to the abuse later on, that doesn't change that the abuse itself can be frightening before that. I for one didn't find it the least bit scary (it's a show about food...), but I know that abuse is a very touchy subject that makes many people uncomfortable. And the offending sentence was already removed. If anything in that show is worthy of being called Nightmare Fuel, it's Erina's father.
Well, abuse can certainly be used for comedic effect. Think of the slapstick of the Three Stooges or Laurel and Hardy, or the violence of Tom and Jerry. I don't know the show, but I would also look at the context of those scenes. Are we meant to laugh, or feel sorry for the character?
Hope shines brightest in the darkest timesBringing up this example from Fresh Meat:
- Nightmare Fuel: Two words. "The Beast". Basically, what happens to Chris when she drinks too much, which is a lot of alcohol, and a lot of the time. She flies into a furious rage and starts throwing things around while screaming and swearing, no matter who is in the general vicinity, and there's no way to pacify her. Vod says the best thing to do when it happens is hide under your bed until she passes out. Especially bad as it can be Truth in Television for anyone with Abusive Parents.
Berserk Button: misusing Nightmare Fuel
Since it's a bit of a Zero-Context Example, you should either rewrite it with more details or comment it out.
I'd like to bring up NightmareFuel.Animal Crossing. An extremely cute game with pretty much zero violence or danger has a Nightmare Fuel page.
- For the songs, the only one that seems like a possible keep is K.K. Dirge, and even then the extraneous bullet point about the live version needs to go since it's mostly arguing that it ISN'T scary.
- Resetti sounds like a keep, since it claims that it did terrify the younger players (the game is rated E, so they're part of the target audience and their reactions should be taken into account).
- None of the late-night songs are frightening at all. New Leaf 4 AM sounds a tiny bit foreboding, but even then I'm leaning towards cutting it.
- Losing your face... I can see how it could catch someone by surprise, so maybe keep.
- The villagers are all nice people who are only slightly unnerving in their outward appearance, which the entry itself states, so I'd absolutely cut that.
- The piranha's entry states that it's more annoying than scary.
- The tarantula and scorpion are also described as being annoying. I'd rather cut them, but if we keep them that last paragraph should be deleted.
- I'm not sure about the dream towns. One one hand, they are by far the scariest thing on the page. On the other, they're made by players, not the game itself. Do we trope user-made content?
- The alien message could be kept, I can see it frightening someone who wasn't expecting it to show up. But it needs extra context since it relies entirely on the video to explain what it is.
- The "Nintendo" voice is absolutely not scary in the slightest.
- The conversation between peppy and cranky villagers sounds like it's only scary In-Universe.
- Uchi villagers moving away sounds like Fridge Horror, especially since they survive.
- Villagers coming for a visit has a bullet point explaining why it's a Heartwarming Moment. Cut.
- Not sure about the gyroids. They only seem mildly spooky to me, but maybe keep.
- Forgetting a favor doesn't sound that scary. It's natural to be pissed at someone for breaking a promise, right?
- Villagers saying "saving their bacon" sounds like overreacting at a poorly worded quote. I can't imagine anyone being actually frightened by that.
- Snowmen sound like a maybe keep, though it needs more detail.
- I could accept keeping the Creepy furniture, except for that last one that is described as funny rather than scary.
- Happy Home Designer is another example of user-made content. The second bullet point is a Zero Context Example.
EDIT: I went ahead and removed the things that objectively don't belong (Fridge Horror and examples that describe themselves as not being very scary). Still waiting for feedback before doing any more.
edited 2nd Jun '18 8:25:24 AM by Zuxtron
Bringing up these examples from X Men Dark Phoenix:
- The first promotional pictures from Entertainment Weekly, which feature Jean crumbling apart, her hair on fire, and flames bursting from her from the cracks. One of them is pictured here. The Phoenix rises indeed.
- The logo at CinemaCon
. The font looks like something from a horror movie, and the title "X-Men" is nowhere to be seen at all. It's evident, from this alone, that this film will be one of the darkest in the X-Men series.
- The Phoenix Force is once again unleashed and unlike last time this time it’s so powerful it gets the attention of aliens and it’s not on the X-Men’s side this time around.
Berserk Button: misusing Nightmare Fuel
In general, I'm wary of adding Nightmare Fuel based on pre-release promotional material. The page image is not that scary, and being afraid of a text logo is just pathetic. The last entry also doesn't do a very good job of explaining what's so scary about it.
Bringing up these examples from Wolverine And The X Men:
- Nightmare Fuel:
- Shadow King is by far one of the darkest villains in the show, even trying to raze Africa from sheer pettiness.
- "Hunting Grounds" gives us the Hunter that Mojo has been preparing. It turns out to be a Brainwashed and Crazy Wolverine, incapable of rational thought and with a creepy-as-hell Slasher Smile fixed on his face à la The Joker.
- Mister Sinister transforming Angel into Archangel. The moment when his victim's face realises what exactly he has done is both terrifying and heartbreaking.
Berserk Button: misusing Nightmare Fuel
The second example could be a keep. First one doesn't get across what's so scary about the villain, and the last one is a Zero-Context Example.
On Avengers: Infinity War, there's this meta folder:
- It naturally didn't take long for someone to create a page
where you can find out which half of the universe you fall in. The really devious part is that once you go to the page, the result is permanently locked to the IP and if you were dusted there's no undoing it.
- If you are spared by Thanos then it opens up a can of Fridge Horror; if you survived, what about your family and friends? There is a very high possibility that some, perhaps even all of them are slain; and you're there as the only surviving person of your circle. Imagine being a parent and seeing that you were spared; only to have your child(ren) disintegrate directly in front of you.
- And if you are slain by Thanos, then it instead displays Paranoia Fuel: you would almost expect yourself to start disintegrating at any moment, perhaps even a significantly long period of time after you enter the page. It's not a matter of if, but when you'll turn to dust and ash.
The first bullet point might stay, but I'm unsure of the rest.

I've been recently removing all spoiler tags from such Nightmare Fuel pages NightmareFuel.One Piece, NightmareFuel.High School DXD and NightmareFuel.Coco.
However, in some of The Hobbit pages (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies), I've discovered that there are unneeded spoiler tags and they might need to be cleaned up. What should we do about this?
edited 23rd May '18 11:42:26 AM by gjjones
He/His/Him. No matter who you are, always Be Yourself.