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
Big Catch, Sparkle Edition
That's why the Game Grumps page got cut years ago — every example was about scary games, and not the grumps themselves being scary. So I agree with these cuts.
Edited by WarJay77 on May 11th 2023 at 2:05:05 PM
Current Project: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
A nice swimmer
There are some which edit their gameplay videos with scary stuff to enhance the horror like say NicoB, so i'm guessing those get to count.
Edited by TheWrongOne41 on May 11th 2023 at 11:14:22 AM
Due to unfortunate events, i will continue to exist until further notice.
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Yeah those would count, but I'm looking at the page right now, and it seems that there are examples which are "Nico was scared by X in the game". I couldn't find any that related to the edited stuff which was made more scary, just things like: "In his playthrough on Resident Evil Village, the entire grotesque Giant Fetus Baby in House Beneviento's basement. Nico did not take it well upon the encounter." whic is just troping the games themselves, as that's where the fear comes from
Big Catch, Sparkle Edition
His main page trope list also needs a cleanin', but that's an issue for another thread...
Current Project: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
A nice swimmer
Yeah, i'm guessing that can be cut.
There is another moment that can be added from his most recent Paranormasight LP which is his "and now back to" segment becoming more and more distorted up until the final episode where it completely dissolves into a glitched mess.
Edited by TheWrongOne41 on May 11th 2023 at 11:27:00 AM
Due to unfortunate events, i will continue to exist until further notice.
Honestly I feel that all these rants were more so funny than scary (especially the one with a gun, that was definitely supposed to be a joke), but I'm curious what everyone else things. (On the plus side, they aren't troping the events in the Power Rangers episodes themselves for a change)
Crossposting this because I asked this in the wrong thread.
NightmareFuel.I Wanna Be The Guy only has three ZCEs with noticeable grammar errors, an image that's borderline JAFAAC, and one example that's just a weblink to the same image on the page. Is this salvageable?
Berserk Button: misusing Nightmare Fuel
I don't think so. Also, is the image fanart?
A nice swimmer
I'm not sure, but the I Wanna games usually have contrasting art from their retro styled games.
Due to unfortunate events, i will continue to exist until further notice.
As someone who had the *ahem* pleasure of playing through I wanna be the Guy when it first came out I found none of the examples on the page scary, the gore is nowhere near as bad as something like Silent Hill, or hell, Super Meat Boy is bloodier and I never thought I'd say that. The "weird roars" from Kradgief come directly from Super Metroid's Kraid's fight and I wouldn't say they're anything that's legit scary especially since this IS a mature game. Burn the page with holy fire. I'm afraid to ask, but what is JAFAAC?
Edited by Klavice on May 12th 2023 at 4:26:35 AM
Fair warning: I can get pretty emotional and take things too seriously.
She / Her
(x4) I don't feel the page is salvageable myself.
It means "Just a Face and a Caption".
Edited by RandomTroper123 on May 12th 2023 at 4:43:33 AM
- Nightmare Fuel: Crumb's fetishes and certain comics (mainly in his youth.) are so specific, repulsive and vile they go beyond Squick and well into this.
Am I right in assuming this is RL complaining as opposed to valid examples?
Angry babby
Regardless, it's a ZCE.
I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
She / Her
Maybe it could be reworded to make it sound less like complaining, though some of it might just fall into Fetish Retardant. Either way, I agree with that it lacks context.
Any pronouns
Those puppets ARE pretty creepy, but I think the page is unneeded. Also, the original Dorothy the Dinosaur costume is incredibly benign and I can't imagine anyone being scared by it. This
◊ is what the page calls a psychotic smirk. What?
I can chase the wind, I can race the rain
Eh, that album cover is a little creepy. But Dorothy isn't scary at all, what I see in the linked video is just a cheap version of her later costume.
This is the only entry on NightmareFuel.YouPeople and it sounds more like Fridge Horror than anything:
- When Akbar spends time with Ezra, he brings him to a Crips-controlled neighborhood. Ezra is briefly instructed by a gang at the barbershop to take off his hoodie. Thankfully Akbar talks him out of it if he knows what’s good for him.
She / Her
That doesn't sound like an example to me and I think the page can be sent to the Cut List.
Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him
Per this ATT, NightmareFuel.Five Nights At Freddys 3 has serious issues with Bold Inflation and exaggeration, and TBH I have a feeling that there may be misused/shoehorned entries as a result. I'd list specifics, but I know little about FNAF, so I'm just putting this here in case someone who does know about FNAF can help.
I did what I could about the overuse of Bold Inflation, but I'll defer to someone who knows more about the game to determine which entries are misuse.
Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him
Big Catch, Sparkle Edition
I've been getting into the lore recently but I don't know much about the individual games... I'll take a look after work, though.
Current Project: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
Bye
Cookie Clicker is filled with Fridge Horror or stuff that are played for Black Comedy. Is this better?
- While most of the milks from the Fanciful Dairy Selection upgrade are pretty, exotic patterns like starry midnight milk and various fiery milks, the sanguine milk stands out for being colored a blood red patterned with the lovely image of red blood cells that looks suspiciously like a screaming face.
- The Grandmapocalypse itself, featuring things such as giant, fleshy Eldritch Abomination Grandmas that threaten entire cities and secrete cookies and sugar and "highways of flesh".
- Not to mention the grandma's purchase icon shifting into a fleshy... thing as the Grandmapocalypse advances. There's absolutely no previous warning of this, so it'll certainly catch you by surprise.
- The Steam version makes the experience even more scary by making the music transition to a much darker and more ominous version of the main theme once the Grandmapocalypse reaches the final stage.
- Before you get to the Grandmapocalypse, you can buy upgrades that make your grandmas increase the CPS of the other buildings. Each time the little grandmas displayed change costume according to the upgrade (for example, buy the one that increases the mines' CPS, and some of your grandmas will dress as miners). So far so good... Until you get the "portal" upgrade, called "altered grandmas", which turn some of them into deformed lumps of flesh...
- 1.039 adds Wrinklers◊. They're large, fleshy, leech-like parasites that start appearing when you trigger the Grandmapocalypse, and they suck your CPS if they get to your big cookie.
- The Christmas update has Santa. Surprisingly enough, the last form of Santa isn't really all that scary, should you be used to the typical Grandmapocalypse things. But True Santa, on the other hard... Yeah.◊
- The buildings you can unlock to bake more cookies for you start out fairly mundane and become weirder as it goes on. From cursors to grandmas, factories, portals to an alternate dimension, the code the game was written in... What does this all culminate into? You yourself are the final building. More specifically, clones of you. Entombed into a wall like a Xenomorph hive.
My Little Pony: A New Generation:
- Sprout, for all his cowardice, silliness and ineffectiveness, is a shining example of Realism-Induced Horror. He doesn't have quite the same world-ending stakes as some of the villains from Friendship is Magic or even the 2017 movie, but he still tries to start a race war.
- The mere fact that the citizens of Maretime Bay are so afraid of Pegasi and Unicorns that they willingly rally around Sprout despite his idiocy both counts and crosses over with Tear Jerker. The fact that Sprout was able to convince the Earth Ponies that Hitch and Sunny were brainwashed makes it seem like a miracle that the Earth Ponies eventually left him.
- The coup/revolution in Zephyr Heights after the truth of the royal family's flight is exposed. Hearing your loved one had been arrested and/or declared a fugitive by your own people proved to be a terrifying prospect for both Queen Haven and Pipp Petals, the former fearing for her childrens' safety and the latter freaking out over her entire life falling apart in the span of a single night. This resonates with any parent who fears getting into legal trouble and their children getting dragged into it, and any child who fears losing not only their parents but everything else with barely any idea of what's happening (or just getting into very big trouble with a lot of angry adults).
Haven: [On Newscast] Pipp, Zipp! Save yourselves!Pipp Petals: [Horrified] What?! This is not happening! This is so not happening!I feel all of these above 3 feel kinda Fridge
- Bridlewood undergoes a strange ritual to a superstitious jinx whenever someone mentions one of their taboo words (magic, wings, feathers and, for some reason, mayonnaise). Seeing them all freeze up, then dance while chanting "Bing-bong", can be creepy.
This is Played for Laughs
I also sent Fail Army, Internet Historian, Cinema Therapy, Count Dankula, and Down The Rabbit Hole to the cut list, since all were videos about real life events and what was being troped was the real life events discussed in the videos.
(I'm just worried since earlier I also sent a bunch of other NF pages to the cutlist, due to them being pages with only Zero-Context Example or scene summaries)
To quote Jake Paul, PewDiePie is next, since I feel that some of them are troping the works talked about than the actual work, but there may be some valid examples there, so I am gonna check it out.