Nightmare Fuel cleanup and maintenance

x5

I'm not convinced by the Tom Riddle entry at all. Villain laughs when torturing others is pretty generic villainy. Plus, as written, it's just a scene summary at best. It makes no attempt to explain why it qualifies for Nightmare Fuel.

Edit: Hooray for page topper.

edited 24th Jun '18 3:41:27 PM by Wyldchyld

It was brought up in this Image Pickin' Thread for NightmareFuel.Barney And Friends that said show is unsuited to have an NF page. As I stated there, I agree since I highly doubt anyone was frightened over Barney of all things and most of the examples on the page are only slightly unsettling at best.

Here are the examples for reference:

• The Barney theme song...BACKWARDS.
• To some, the original Barney costume from the Backyard Gang videos looked pretty creepy. ESPECIALLY the first design in the first three videos, in which he was dark purple, skinny, had giant eyes, and a red mouth with a tongue.
  • To top it all off, try checking out how he used to look in plush form◊ without getting the least bit intimidated. The fact that (unlike the subsequent dolls) it doesn't even look like its costumed counterpart, makes the appearance even more unsettling.
• In two of the Backyard Gang videos ("A Day at the Beach" and "Barney Goes to School"), Barney can be heard talking BEFORE he comes to life... VERY unusual for a typical Barney episode. The former video mentioned has him talking off-screen
• The end of the Backyard Gang video "Waiting For Santa", with Santa looking at the camera and whispering almost menacingly "Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!"
• According to several Youtube comments, many children were scared by the bear in "Barney's Campfire Singalong" due to the sheer Uncanny Valley factor of his appearance and because he appears out of the darkness of the woods.
• There's also the winking baseball during "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" in "Three Wishes".
• There's also the donkey at the end of "Rock With Barney". From its heart-freezing braying (which is also heard earlier in the video, scaring Baby Bop) to its creepy wink to the camera. Winnie the Pooh, eat your heart out.
  • As if that wasn't enough, it re-appears at the end of the credits and winks again.
• Some of the endings with the Barney doll winking are very creepy as well, mainly with the season 2 design, which, unlike most seasons, had the camera pan up very close to the purple guy's face in several episodes.
  • To top it all off, any episode from that season (except for "A Very Special Delivery") which ends in the classroom usually has one of the kids turning off the lights, adding more to the creepy effect of Barney's winks. (Season 3 also had those treatments as well, but they were done a lot tamer). Notable examples from season 2 include "The Dentist Makes Me Smile" (pictured above), "Grown-Ups for a Day", and "Having Tens of Fun". The creepiest ending from the season, however, has to be from "May I Help You?" (seen here), which follows very similarly to the "Rock with Barney" donkey ending (i.e. a very quick and VERY close pan-up to his face than usual).
  • Some could argue that the wide-eyed stare of the 1st season's Barney doll is creepier, unless you'd prefer that over the season 2 redesign. (Unlike season 2, at least the endings consisted of a slow pan to the purple guy, rather than fading or cutting right to him, therefore, allowing us viewers more time to react until it's over.)
• A very minor one, but while Derek making a wish for new friends in "Waiting for Santa" is more of a tearjerker, it also teeters a little bit towards the Uncanny Valley, with him starting directly at the viewer, as the camera slowly zooms closely onto his face.
• In the Season 12 episode "The Misbegotten Moon: A Space Adventure", THE MOON IS CREEPY AS HECK!◊
• The show's original adaptation of the Kookabura song begins with a pair of creepy sounding flutes.

Obviously, the backward theme song isn't part of the show and the Barney plush that is linked looks more dopey than creepy.

Some of those examples strike me as Accidental Nightmare Fuel. My issue is the Zero Context Examples. For instance, the example about the winking baseball. Apparently that is scary in and of itself.

Scary for toddlers, maybe? Again, that's not what NF is supposed to be about. I may have had nightmares about Barney, but not because of the show's content... more like the image of a happy purple dinosaur costume eating children's brains.

edited 25th Jun '18 7:36:30 AM by Fighteer

Agreed on both counts. Personally, I’d be fine with nuking the page from orbit, but if anything can be salvaged then Accidental Nightmare Fuel is probably the best place for those examples.

Accidental Nightmare Fuel is No Examples, Please.

If there is evidence that many children were scared by a certain scene, it could be kept.

So which one of those Nightmare Fuel Barney examples are valid enough?

In that case, I'm fine with nuking the page.

None.

Since no one commented on Steven Universe season 1A, I went ahead and removed what objectively doesn't belong. Here's season 1B.

^{Season 1 B} 

Space Race

• The rocket ship's explosion near the end. Pearl may have had good intentions to show Steven the universe, but we cannot forget the fact that they both could have died a fiery and painful death by explosion in the reaches of space, far away from friends and family. Greg's screams for Steven as it all unfolds just makes the whole thing more awful.
• As bad as we feel for Pearl in this episode, it's unsettling seeing how she acts. She asks Steven if he wants to go for a "little test drive" while Greg's asleep after he told her no. Then she offhandedly states "I'll bring him back in fifty years!" as they take off, even though she knows Gems and humans age differently. And when Greg tries to tell them to come back over the radio, she casually turns him off while humming. Even Steven is worried at this point, but she just says "I'm going to show them to you".
  Both sound like they could be OK.

Secret Team

• During the episode, some of the Gem Fragment limbs try to strangle the internal organs of the Crystal Temple.
• The fact that the fragment of broken Gems aren't inert, and can regenerate into autonomous limbs and body parts, brings up some disturbing questions about Gem mortality. If a fragment can still create part of a Gem's body, does that also mean some part of their mind still remains? Do Gems really die if their crystal is shattered, or are they doomed to exist as an assortment of Gem pieces, each housing a broken shard of their original self?
  First could use more detail, but sounds OK. Second is speculation (though it was confirmed to be true, which is in the General folder).

Island Adventure

• The fish surrounding the island that Steven, Lars, and Sadie are marooned on turn out to be carnivorous. Fair enough. There's also some big and fast enough for that to be a problem, and just walking on the shoreline is dangerous.
  This is yet another case of "the heroes are in danger", and is so minor that the Steven Universe wiki's recap of the episode doesn't even mention it. Surprised that there's nothing about the invisible gem monster.

Keep Beach City Weird!

• The episode reveals that Ronaldo isn't just a spacey conspiracy-theorist, but a dangerously deluded and narcissistic Psychopathic Manchild. He believes himself to have supernatural powers, goes into a deep depression when he learns Beach City's happenings aren't focused around him, and when Steven puts on a shoddy costume to cheer him up, Ronaldo bludgeons him with a potato and kidnaps him while still spouting his delusional snake people theories.
  This doesn't seem particularly scary. Especially bludgeoning with a potato, which is too silly to be taken seriously.

"Watermelon Steven"

• The creepy mouths the Watermelon Stevens reveal when they hiss.
• While it seems like maybe it was supposed to be funny (and wouldn't have harmed her even if they'd gone through with it), two Watermelon Stevens digging a grave to bury Amethyst alive in is really scary. It does not help that Amethyst is trapped and crying in fear the whole time.
  First one is lacking in detail and doesn't sound scary at all. Second spends half the example explaining why it's not that bad. Thinking of cutting both.

Fusion Cuisine

• The dinner scene shows that Alexandrite's face is nothing more than just a mask. Then she opens a second, monstrous mouth along her jawline and Amethyst's voice says "I'M HUNGRY!" Pretty creepy. Since the more human-looking one was capable of speech and eating, it'd make perfect sense for a Fusion as unstable as Alexandrite to have more than one mouth, considering past Fusions have had things like four arms and five eyes.
• When the Gems lose control of the fusion, right before Alexandrite unfuses, her face cracks.
• Alexandrite's second mouth is seen again after Steven and Connie decide to run away by getting on a random bus and seeing where it will take them. All of a sudden, Alexandrite can be seen running after the bus, easily grabbing it and lifting it into the air (with Steven and Connie still inside), and then roars "STEVEN!" in a Voice of the Legion. It looked like she was going to try to eat Steven and Connie. And we thought Sugilite was bad.
• Steven and Connie suddenly trying to run away definitely hits Adult Fear for Greg, the Gems, and the Maheshwarans. No wonder Alexandrite was called again.
  First one is kinda weak, but could keep, though the last sentence is natter. The second one also sounds pretty weak. Third one sounds OK, though the last two sentences seem unnecessary (we know that Alexandrite, being composed of the three motherly Crystal Gems, would never hurt Steven or Connie). The last one sounds like In-Universe fear.

Warp Tour

• Peridot's appearance has the Gems absolutely terrified. Whatever happened before they were stranded is so horrible that they'd rather stay stranded than face it again.
• Steven almost suffocates when he finds the thing traveling between the warp pads. And he is fully aware that his "victory" in proving he was right leads to nothing other than him dying in the void. Thankfully, Garnet saves him.
  • Even worse, when Peridot stops mid-sentence- she was about to say: "Prepare to re-activate the Kindergarten." We end up getting a pretty good idea of what that is a few episodes later...
  First one is describing In-Universe fear. Second could be OK, though there is a bit of poorly-indented natter.

Alone Together

• It's very brief, but while at the rave, Stevonnie nearly has a panic attack when they realize that they're the only one dancing and everyone else is staring at them.
• When the dancer approaches Stevonnie, he treats them with a condescending smile while looking at them from head to toe. The way he talks makes it obvious that he is only interested in them because they are attractive, making it more or less seem like a variant of catcalling, especially since Stevonnie is highly uncomfortable with the way the guy behaves, yet he doesn't back off until Stevonnie unfuses, making him panic since Steven and Connie are children.
  Both of these are about In-Universe fear.

Future Vision

• The entire episode is full of psychological horror about how you could suddenly get killed in several different ways, and how you're risking your life by leaving your house.
• To say nothing of the psychological horror of being able to see detailed information on the various ways a person you love can die or be traumatized. Garnet has it rough.
  First one is In-Universe fear, the various deaths were illustrated in a more cartoony and silly way in an Imagine Spot and the whole point of the episode is that Steven is overreacting about them. Second sounds more like a Tear Jerker than Nightmare Fuel. In both cases, describing the episode as Psychological Horror is silly.

On the Run

• Whatever the hell a "Kindergarten" is, is enough to terrify Pearl. Considering that there's thousands of Gem shaped holes in the face of the mountain, and dozens of those machines, it was obviously nothing good.
  • Then there's the drill machine, its appearance gives it the look of a giant virus. There's a panel on the side showing what looks like an organic heart and viscerae inside, and when one of them fell down, the container broke leaving a 'reddish' puddle.
  • The fact that the whole place is a visual homage to The Enigma of Amigara Fault. The dialogue doesn't help.
  • Pearl's wording implies that there are more of these places.
• The fact that Amethyst was born here is terrifying enough, and then you realize she views herself as more monstrous than the other Gems as a result.
  • It's basically implied that the Gems were killing an unknown number of humans and probably other life forms to mass produce more Gems, to the point that they could have wiped out all life on Earth.
  • Her speech to Steven isn't very comforting, considering there's implied Sanity Slippage in it. It's easy to forget for a brief moment that this is essentially one of Steven's mothers and that she could be a very real threat to him.
    Steven: Pearl? Was Amethyst really made here?
    Pearl: How much did you tell him?
    Amethyst: What? You mean about the bad thing? How this bad place is where bad Gems came to grow more bad Gems? Is that what you're talking about?
    Steven: They grew other Gems here?!
    Pearl: Amethyst, he's not ready!
    Amethyst: (Smiling creepily) Oh, but don't worry, Steven. Everything's just fine now.
    Pearl: Amethyst.
    Amethyst: It all worked out. We won!
    Pearl: Stop.
    Amethyst: (Gets closer and closer to Steven) And we shut this place down so the Earth would be safe from parasites like me!
    Pearl: Amethyst! That's enough!
• The ending. Pearl and Amethyst reconcile and everyone happily warp home, leaving behind a shot of the Kindergarten... suddenly, the lighting shifts, and the drill machines and thousands of drill holes on the walls become incredibly pronounced. For just a few notes, the music becomes tense and very threatening as the episode suddenly cuts off.
  First one sounds OK, though the first sentence is just In-Universe fear and the indentation in general is bad. The second one is poorly indented: the first point isn't scary at all, the second is speculation, third one is a Tear Jerker being shoehorned into Nightmare Fuel. I guess the last one could be kept.

Horror Club

• The Gem's attack on the group is pretty terrifying, especially as it uses Mind over Matter to attack the group and sucks Sadie through the floor, culminating in a giant mouth appearing in the basement wall!.
• The fact that Ronaldo was willing to throw Lars into the mouth.
  First one is OK, second is very lacking in detail.

Winter Forecast

• The final vision, in which the Gems try to use the Shooting Star to destroy the Galaxy Warp and keep Earth safe from the Homeworld Gems, only for Steven's return to distract them and make them drop it, causing an explosion that apparently destroys the temple.
  It was just a vision, it ends up not happening. Sounds like a cut.

Maximum Capacity

• Greg and Amethyst's argument grows worse until Amethyst uses her shapeshifting to make herself look like Rose, disturbing Greg, Steven, and the viewers. Seeing her look like Rose, but with obvious differences...
  • With this implication that either Greg had Amethyst do that to unhealthily deal with Rose's death in the past, or that Amethyst had done it before in another argument.
  This sounds OK, though the indentation needs fixing.

Marble Madness

• Peridot tries to squash Steven under a giant stone fist.
• Remember the Red Eye? Peridot was the one that sent it to Earth!.
• Peridot calmly, almost dismissively, asking Steven if "Stevens" have "supplanted" humans as the dominant life form. That's a terrifyingly euphemistic way to refer to the genocide of the human race, and highlights her Lack of Empathy.
• It could also be an insight to the attitude of life (in the Being with Consciousness sense) on Homeworld, coupled with Jasper's comments implying models of Gems do obsolete Gems just get... "supplanted"? The old Gems perhaps repurposed for magic mirror duty or maintaining a rotatey temple duty?
  First one is yet ANOTHER case of "the hero is in danger. Second is also not scary at all. Third is just acknowledging the possibility of human extinction even though it didn't happen. Fourth is complete speculation.'''

Rose's Scabbard

• Garnet explicitly says that War Is Hell, and that many Gems died during the Great Offscreen War that occurred 5,000 years ago.
• Garnet's above statement suddenly makes Pearl's gushing, before and after, about how awesome fighting alongside Rose was somewhat unsettling. The way it's framed makes it seem like Pearl's either a sunshine patriot who didn't see the worst of the fighting, or a Blood Knight completely unfazed by the fact that War Is Hell. "Sworn to the Sword" implies a mix of both, minus not seeing the worst of the fighting.
• Steven nearly falls to his death chasing after Pearl. Pearl doesn't bother to help Steven up, completely at odds with her usual Team Mom personality.
• While funny, Pearl's expression when she's visiting Rose's cave with Steven falls enough into the Uncanny Valley to be creepy.
• Pearl's glare at Steven◊ is one of the creepiest Out of Character actions in any show ever. It's not particularly scary like Garnet's glare in Mirror Gem, but it's unsettling because, well, this is PEARL glaring at STEVEN. In context, it's even worse, because it seems like Pearl is truly angry at Steven for existing and taking Rose away from her (who was who Pearl cared about the most). O.O.C. Is Serious Business indeed.
  '''First one is super weak, just saying that some gems offscreen died a long time ago. Second is also weak and is also speculation. Third sounds like it could be OK though it could use extra details. Fourth calls itself funny, indicating shoehorning. Fifth sounds like it could be OK.

The Message

• The content of Lapis' message to the Gems and Steven. Not only is Homeworld so advanced and alien to her that she's just as terrified there as she was on Earth, but the Homeworld Gems know that the Crystal Gems are still alive, and they are not happy about it at all. Also, there's the confirmation that Peridot is coming after them, and she isn't coming alone.
• The ending music to this episode starts out normal, but is abruptly interrupted by the sound of something massive and ominous landing, followed by static.
• This sound piece that was released after "The Message" aired, you can only hear a woman in pain in the static.
• Later episodes bring in the massive amounts of Adult Fear that Greg has to deal with. The horrifying war his beloved wife told him about is not only going to happen again, but his son is going to be right in the middle of it.
  First one is mostly anticipation and In-Universe fear. Second is a musical example, so once again no comment from me. Third one does sound pretty creepy, though I don't know if it's fitting as it's not part of the episode itself. Fourth is more In-Universe fear.

Political Power

• Continuing from the Last Note Nightmare from The Message's end credits. The end credits to this episode start out as nothing but static followed by a low, ominous note...
  More music that I can't find scary so once again, no comment.

The Return

• The tone of this entire episode. Everyone is tense and on edge, faced with an utterly hopeless situation. The background music is melancholic as all hell as the town evacuates, but becomes intense whenever the ship comes into view. Not to mention that the sky slowly turns from dusk-red to a sickly green as the ship nears. Everything in this episode radiates nothing but dread.
• The hand-shaped spaceship. It's mysterious, impervious to most of the Gems' defenses and something about the way it looks and moves is just so... eugh...
• It's only for a short moment, but looking at Steven asking to return to the Gems from Gregs perspective is extreme Adult Fear: His only child and in essence his own wife, who he has already lost once, asks to go to a gigantic hostile spaceship that even three superpowered creatures are terribly afraid of. There is nothing that Greg can do to protect his child, no matter if he lets Steven return or not, but if he allows him to go back, then he can't even be with his child if something happens.
  • This fear culminates into a extreme panic attack in "Full Disclosure" when he hears what Steven went through.
• Peridot's blank and emotionless face as she tries to murder the Crystal Gems. The only reason this didn't work was because Steven summoned his shield in time.
• Jasper. A Blood Knight obsessed with beating Rose Quartz this time around, and who takes a distressing interest in Steven after recognizing his shield, mistaking him for his mother.
  • Watching her cut down poor Garnet, literally bisecting her in the process. And we get a lovely close-up of Garnet's face after she's been sliced through. It proved to be too jarring for the Gems as Amethyst became astonished, Pearl screamed in outright horror, and Steven does nothing but watch with a great look of shock on his face.
  • Seeing her headbutt Steven with enough force to knock him unconscious is jarring.
  • The truly scary thing about Jasper is that, despite relishing battle, she is NOT a mindless psycho: she doesn't carelessly charge into battle, she evaluates the situation, stays focused, doesn't let enemy taunts affect her decisions and makes sure to end fights in the most quick and efficient way possible. She is not an out-of-control attack dog, she is a professional soldier, and as seen in the next episode, as such she will do everything to complete her mission.
  First one seems to fail Examples Are Not General. Second just sounds like "the villain is powerful". Third one sounds like In-Universe fear. Fourth is pretty weak-sounding, and comes across as "the villain tries to hurt the heroes". Fifth is poorly indented: the first bullet point doesn't convey any kind of fear, second could be OK, third is just another case of "villain attacks the hero", fourth is also just "the villain is dangerous".

Jail Break

• The climactic sequence following the jail break, where Jasper decides her best chance of beating the Crystal Gems is Fusing... with Lapis, whom she grabs and hauls in for a Breaking Speech, offering her a chance to get revenge on her former captors. Which leads right into Malachite's debut, with her towering over our battered heroes and gloating about her newfound power.
  • And then Lapis takes control of the Fusion, using her hydrokinesis to submerge Malachite into the ocean. The way the Fusion submerges as it yells is pretty disturbing.
  "Let's stay on this miserable planet! Together!"
  • Malachite's debut is clearly inspired by Ursula's infamous giant scene.
• The several Slasher Smiles that Jasper displays in this episode, especially during her Breaking Speech to Lapis, and when they fuse into Malachite. *Shudders* Each and every one of those smiles falls right into Uncanny Valley, as her teeth are drawn very realistically, unlike the more simplistic, block-like teeth rows most of the other characters have.
  • And the look of discomfort that Lapis has as she and Jasper fuse... The dark undertones of this are bound to make one squeamish.
  "Come on... Just say yes."
  • Some of what Jasper says is eerily reminiscent of an emotionally abusive partner, essentially telling Lapis that she's weak without her and physically needs her to achieve her goals.
• Ruby's screaming before Steven finds her. It's revealed she's unharmed as soon as he shows up (she was screaming because she couldn't get to Sapphire.), but she sounded so pained that it's easy to imagine...
  The first one is a pretty infamous scene in the fandom, though for some reason the reason why (the parallels between the fusion and an abusive relationship) is only mentioned in another example. Lapis taking over the fusion and imprisoning Jasper is more of an Awesome Moment than scary, and the comparison to Ursula seems unnecessary. Second example is just more "scary faces", plus the *Shudders* reaction is Word Cruft. And as mentioned above, some points need to be merged with the first one. Third point is just a "what-if" scenario that doesn't happen.

This was added to The Death of Superman, and like the example from the previous page, I'm still not getting scary from the example:

• Nightmare Fuel: Doomsday's status as a feral, raging beast who's entire existence is devoted to murdering anything and everything around him is depicted accurately. His dialog consists entirely of animalistic roars, snarls, and growls.

It describes something without saying what's scary about it. So... yeah.

NightmareFuel.Super Smash Bros is just awful for a series that's just about fighting.

One example from the last folder:

• The reveal trailer for the game, as awesome as it was, can also be this. It starts with an Inkling girl facing off against an Inkling boy in a Call-Back to the reveal trailer for Splatoon. Nothing unusual yet. Then the white background goes completely black and the Splatoon theme fades out. The Inkling girl turns around to view the Smash logo, huge and fiery. The Ominous Chorus of what could be this game's theme and Mario and Link having their faces framed in shadow doesn't help.
  • The sight becomes even more terrifying when you look at things from the Inklings' point of view. In their world, all land animals aside from Judd have become extinct after rising water levels flooded the earth some 10,000 years ago. Apart from what little information they have from digging up remains and the Sunken Scrolls, they have no clue as to what these other animals look like. So naturally, the sight of a group of unknown fighters carrying strange weapons who clearly don't look like Inklings or Octarians is going to make them scared. The only other creatures that'll make the Inklings ink themselves are the Salmonids. They're more or less going up against entities beyond their means of understanding.

THIS is the supposedly scary trailer.

That is pretty awful. First point is saying a logo is scary, the second is Fridge Horror (and flimsy at best, requiring lots of overthinking) AND an In-Universe reaction.

I mean it's a lot darker and more intimidating than the previous reveals for the old Smash games, but it's not terrifying at all. So yeah cut that.

Edited by ReynTime250 on Jun 29th 2018 at 2:26:53 PM

So since interest in the Steven Universe cleanup seemed to be low, I just went ahead and removed everything that seemed to objectively not qualify from that page. Now that it's done, may as well look as Smash Bros.:

I'm personally also looking at Smash Bros. Anything about Master Core can stay unless it's Fridge Horror.

A lot of Master Core's entry goes into Walkthrough Mode and just describes its attacks, so not everything should stay.

Huhuhuhahahahaha...

• Metal Mario never says a word, he doesn't even flinch a lot from hits, and worst of all, he never runs. Instead, he does an Unflinching Walk towards your character, who he does not see as a menace.
  As with Master Hand, this could use a bit more detail but is otherwise OK.
• One of the most haunting original BGMs to ever come from the franchise is the Lonely Piano Piece playing right after defeating Master Hand in the original N64 title. The so-called "Game Clear" music is indeed a lonely piano piece, but a horribly demented and off-key one, at that. It essentially sounds like Pyrrhic Victory in musical form. Rather fitting considering the theory that postulates that Master Hand represents Masahiro Sakurai...
  The comments also seem to suggest that this music scared a lot of people, so another keep.

Long live the king...

• This◊ image appears when you clear All-Star Mode with Peach, making her look unusually sinister.
  Fails Weblinks Are Not Examples since it doesn't describe the image.
• The Brinstar Depths stage is a giant piece of space debris that could be spun around by Kraid. Plus, not only is the stage creepy in that Kraid just comes out of nowhere from the lava and roars at the player(s), but the music is actually rather chilling.
  Unsure about this one, but it does mention a few scary aspects so I could accept keeping it.
• This game introduces Crazy Hand, the more sinister side of Master Hand. While fighting Master Hand is not entirely unlike one's action figures trying to kill one's hand; Crazy Hand, is much creepier, since he idles spastically, has a few oddly creepy attacks, and is a tough boss, since he almost always brings Master Hand along.
  As with Master Hand, this could be OK, but needs more details. Also, being a difficult enemy isn't Nightmare Fuel so that part should be cut.
• Giga Bowser's introduction in Melee. Just after getting to the end of Adventure Mode and beating Giant Bowser, Bowser's trophy suddenly lurches back on stage with a loud thud, and then crumbles revealing a colossal, far more vicious-looking, SNK Boss version of him, being much stronger and immune to grabs. And his transformation ends with a silent roar, complete with Glowing Eyes of Doom that freezes in frame while the actual fight starts loading.
  • There's also something unnerving about the cutscene that plays when you beat him. With Giant Bowser, you see Bowser's trophy tumble off into the black abyss. With Giga Bowser, you get the same cutscene except now it ends with the trophy smashing into dust on the floor. The fact that you can barely hear the sound of it breaking adds to it.
  Bad indentation aside, this seems OK. The bit about him being immune to grabs is unnecessary, it's like it's going into Walkthrough Mode.
• Zooming in on Daisy's trophy from the back in early versions of Melee reveals a glitchy, deformed eye on the back of her head.
  Not sure about this one, on one hand it is kinda creepy, on the other hand it's just a glitch and was patched out of later versions.
• When you earn a trophy in the Lottery, and it happens to be something like the moon from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask or something equally terrifying. Given that all trophies quickly pop up in the middle of the screen when earned, it could also double as a Jump Scare.
  Also not sure about this. A Jump Scare is not automatically Nightmare Fuel.
• Lip's Stick is introduced in this game as a usable item. While its toy-like aesthetic and the utterly non-menacing appearance of its original wielder◊ may not seem too scary, the effect it causes is slightly unnerving to think about. It causes a plant to grow out of someone's skull as it causes them agony. Look up Cordyceps and their effect on insects - the concept is the same.
  This one claims to be only "slightly unnerving" and is also Fridge Horror.
• As mentioned in the 64 folder, Metal Mario, especially how he's introduced. He falls from the sky head-first and lands on the Battlefield stage still stiffly head-first before falling over…and then extremely fluidly stands up to face the player while ominous music plays. Should you have Luigi unlocked, he joins as Metal Luigi and the creep factor becomes doubled.
  This one sounds OK.
• While it's not horribly scary or anything, Mr. Game & Watch had a rather ominous victory theme in Melee. Brawl gave him a more normal one, though.
  This calls itself "not horribly scary".
• Learning that Mr. Game and Watch is actually a 3D model made and then set up to look 2D. It just looks so out of place and could make any player uncomfortable. Thankfully, he was made complete 2D in later installments.
  What's so scary about this?
• The music for Flat Zone (which can be heard in the above video) is rather unsettling and downright alien.
  Just "rather unsettling", not nightmare-inducing.
• Zelda's star KO scream, compared to others and even her future games' KO scream(s), she sounds genuinely terrified, in pain or both and it comes off as plain unnerving.
  A character screaming while flying off into the distance in a cartoony Twinkle in the Sky manner doesn't sound like the kind of thing that haunts your dreams.
• While most of the North American chants in this game aren't terribly scary, just rather bored sounding, a few are rather creepy. Take the chants for Yoshi and Falco for example. It sounds like a group of spirits in a haunted place calling to them.
  • Ganondorf's one is suitably off-putting, while the crowd saying "Ness, Ness, Ness!" can also be eerie if you know what the reference is.
  They're meant to be cheering you on. Knowing that these only play if you're doing well should offset a lot of the creepiness.
• The Special Movie has an eerie moment where the Majora's Mask trophy inches towards the screen, slowly rotating, just like in that game's intro.
  Eh. That does sound like it could be scary to some. I could go either way.

Edited by Zuxtron on Jun 29th 2018 at 10:49:34 AM

Looking at Brawl next:

And another realm falls to Subspace.

• Overall, this game takes the Darker and Edgier approach, with more realistic textures and darker themes, so this game has plenty of scary moments, to the point where The Subspace Emissary, the game's Adventure mode, has its own page.
• This game introduces Final Smashes, very powerful and sometimes cinematic special attacks. But some of them aren't so pleasant.
  • Captain Falcon's Final Smash knocks a couple of characters near him onto an F-Zero track, where they look up to see Captain Falcon racing towards them in his Blue Falcon, which crashes into them and sends them flying. Anyone sensitive to real-life car accidents are better off not thinking about that one too much. Plus, most F-Zero machines usually go over 900 km/h on a regular basis, so getting hit by something that fast WILL hurt. And finally, using it against the younger fighters (Toon Link, Villager, Lucas, Inkling, etc.) may make it a little uncomfortable to watch. Even if said young fighters are perfectly capable of holding their own in a fight, they're still kids.
    There's nothing particularly gruesome about this. Sure, hitting someone with a car is violent, but it falls well within the level of violence to be expected in a fighting game.
    • Worse is the fact in the fourth game, it can be used against a dog. Said dog could be seen as a punching bag, but still…
      Pure Natter
  • Mr. Game & Watch's Final Smash involves him turning into a giant octopus that hovers around with its undulating tentacles, with a constant ominous and unnatural humming sound throughout the whole thing. Let's just hope you haven't seen anything..."not safe for work," or this could get even more uncomfortable.
    If you're the kind of person that watches tentacle hentai, you can probably tolerate a 2D octopus that's not even doing anything explicit.
  • When Pit summons Palutena's Army, the Centurions actually die after striking the enemy, as pointed out by the trophy: "their deaths are not in vain". At the very least, Kid Icarus: Uprising confirms that Palutena just brings them back to life.
    As with Luma and Pikmin, this is just mooks dying. I don't think anyone lost sleep over that attack.
  • Luigi's Final Smash, the Negative Zone, is an incomprehensible attack that inverts the colors of an area and makes opponents easier to knock away and gives them status effects. It's supposedly the manifestation of Luigi's negativity.
    OK, this one may be a bit creepy to some. I still don't think it's frightening enough to count, but I'm open to keeping this anyway.
  • Bowser's Final Smash turns him into Giga Bowser. He was scary enough in Melee, but now, for the precious few seconds he exists, he is completely invincible. The only thing you can do is run until it wears off, but given his titanic size and deceptively high speed, he will catch you. The only thing that can save you from Giga Bowser is if the player misses a platform and accidentally kills themselves, putting this into another category alltogether.
    I could also keep this one, though I don't find it scary at all. The last sentence definitely doesn't belong.
  • Kirby's Final Smash involves him turning into Cook Kirby and boiling anyone unlucky enough to get caught in the attack alive. J-Jesus...
    This attack is done in a very cartoony way that isn't scary at all.
• Link has an alternate costume that turns him into Dark Link, complete with black clothes, grey skin, and red eyes, which, while freaky, isn't too bad. Toon Link on the other hand, with his bigger, cat like eyes, also has a Dark Link alt, resulting in a much scarier look. They both retain these in the next installment as well.
  • The design for these costumes comes directly from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess where Link is told of the dark interlopers who attempted to steal the Triforce amidst its wars. That whole scene is another story altogether.
    I could also bear to keep this, though it has a poorly indented piece of natter that has little relevance and should be removed.
• This game's rendition of the already creepy Luigi's Mansion theme was made even creepier.
  • It also serves as the muse for Brentalfloss's lyric video.
    A zero-context example, what's so creepy about it? And what does Brentalfloss have to do with that scariness?
• Norfair in SSBB has lava plumes and occasional lava run-off appearing on left or right taking that portion of the screen, and sometimes, a huge lava flow comes straight at the screen and you have to take shelter from it.
  Lava in a video game isn't scary. This is another case of violence that falls within the levels that should be expected for the genre.
• The conversation with Colonel Campbell if Snake uses the radio successfully while facing Luigi. They begin with discussing Luigi's second banana status but eventually move on to Luigi's magic powers. Suddenly the Colonel trails off and starts chanting "La li lu le lo...la li lu le lo...": so either the Colonel is actually the fake Colonel from Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, or Luigi just took over his mind. It's kind of creepy either way.
  Not seeing anything wrong here aside from the spoiler tag. Keep.
• The Ultimate Chimera in New Pork City is just as much of The Dreaded as it was in its home appearance. When it appears, the screen turns black and it Instant KO chomps on you if you get too close. There's also no way of truly defeating it; you can only stun it.
  • Somewhat mitigated if it ends up on the breakable platform at the bottom of the stage. It can be defeated by making it fall to its death. It will keep respawning even still, however...
    This could also be kept aside from that poorly indented bullet point that's trying to make the example less frightening.
• Hacking experiments on SSBB which involved "Moveset Swapping" have resulted in some fan-made nightmare fuel characters. Such as Pikaman (Pikachu with Ganondorf Moveset), Stub Link (Toon Link with Meta Knight Moveset), and Witch Peach (Peach with Sonic Moveset).
  • Moveset Swapping - Part 1
  • Moveset Swapping - Part 2
  • Moveset Swapping - Part 3
  • Neckless, Stickman Sonic
  • Yoshidorf
• Luigi FINGERS EVERYONE because WHY NOT!?
  All of the above are zero-context examples. They're also not actually from the game itself, since you need to hack to see them.

Edited by Zuxtron on Jun 29th 2018 at 6:23:05 AM

New Steven Universe episodes have started to air, so I expect a few bad examples will be added over the course of this week:

• Sapphire nearly impaling Pearl and Steve with ice spikes.
  This reads like a total exaggeration. It looked more like she was making a wall of ice to block their path, and it just happened to be kinda pointy (the place where the "spike" emerged was nowhere near either of them). Plus, Sapphire is one of Pearl and Steven's friends: sure, she wasn't exactly in the best mental state, but not to the point where she'd be driven to kill her teammates.
• Pearl telling Pink/Rose to "replace" her after a failed attempt at fusion. Remember that all gems are programmed from the very start, so even a slip-up such as this would warrant a replacement.
  This does a very poor job explaining why it's scary. Someone added a Pot Hole to Fridge Horror saying that "replace" most likely means "shatter", which I removed. Now that I think about it, perhaps it's not actually Fridge Horror since the implication is pretty clear and almost certainly intentional, but even then, it sounds like in-universe fear: why would this be scary to us, when Rose immediately reassures Pearl that she's not going to get rid of her?

Hmm I do think Pearl saying something like "I made mistake, I need to die" was a bit unsettling though Idk if it qualifies.

What's Your Problem

• Steven comes way to close to Helicopter!Amethyst's blades...

I suppose it's blatant Fridge Horror

When you word Pearl's reaction like that, it makes a bit more sense to keep it as Nightmare Fuel. Any comments on Sapphire's so-called attempted impalement of Pearl and Steven?

Steven coming close to Amethyst's blades is a pretty weak entry too. It's just speculating about what could have happened. In the end, no one was hurt (at least not physically), so if no one objects I agree with cutting it.

Another episode, another overreaction:

The Question

• When the gang comes upon a densely packed bush, Ruby gets excited about finding out what's behind it, since Sapphire isn't there to predict it. It's a cliff. And Ruby nearly falls in.
  But she doesn't fall. And even if she did, Gems can regenerate from any damage unless their gemstone is cracked. And even if it did get cracked from the fall, Steven can fix it with his healing powers.
• In a meta way, the fact that even though we're aware that Garnet never refusing again is a Like You Would Really Do It situation, Steven Universe has proven to be a show full of surprises and twists. Combined with Ruby seeming perfectly okay with never becoming Garnet again at the start it can make you wonder if the leader of the Crystal Gems could really be gone for good...
  This is pure speculation. Even if (and that's a very, VERY big if) Garnet never came back, Ruby and Sapphire are still on good terms as of the end of the episode, meaning that it would be completely their choice and therefore not scary. And even if (and that's an even bigger if) the episode went differently and Ruby never made up with Sapphire, it would be a Tear Jerker, not Nightmare Fuel. And if we're going to do "what if the episode went differently" we can literally add anything to the page.

Edited by Zuxtron on Jul 5th 2018 at 10:55:34 AM

So, I feel like almost all examples on NightmareFuel.Gundam Build Divers... aren't examples.

To clarify, GBD takes place almost entirely in a video game. Not in a Wreck It Ralph kind of way, but in a "this is an MMO." Also note that aside from the Mysterious Waif, none of the characters are trapped in the game or anything. "Dying" just means losing some points.

My issue is that a lot of the entries are seemingly written as though the in-game acts are the real world. Take the first example:

• Even from the start of the first episode, we were treated to Do-ji, a player who hunts beginners for points. Magee's words imply that he has done so many times undetected before Riku and Yukki's first Dive.

Okay, cannot emphasize this enough, it's a game. And this is Do-Ji. And he "hunts beginners for points" by pretending he has a stomachache. I know this stuff is subjective but I just feel like it's misrepresenting the work to make it sound scarier for... reasons? Or this example:

• The fact that Ogre has no hesitation to attack any player, including Riku, who never intended to pick a fight with him and is basically defending himself from another crazed player. Ogre almost tries to attack the 00 Diver in its defenseless state before Sarah interferes.

Again... it's a game. No one is in any actual danger.

Like there's a few examples that count (most of the Break Decal ones, and some of the "fear of your friends abandoning you" Adult Fear ones), but the "this sure would be scary if it weren't in a game" ones just seem shoehorned.

I agree that anything that's just an In-Universe game isn't scary. Also, there's one entry that's Fridge Horror, and a few spoiler tags. These need to go too.