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
Alright then, I will move the Bowser statue to the Super Mario Bros page and nuke the entire MK 8 page. If anyone disagrees with the example, feel free to delete it after the move.
Edit: Oh wow, hilariously enough, that very statue is the actual image for the SMB page! 
Edit 2: It's also telling that the only Mario Kart on that page was 8 all by itself...
Edited by ravioliluigi on May 17th 2019 at 2:28:39 AM
NightmareFuel.Watchmen 2019 is just terrible.
The first example is a ZCE and the second a Fridge Horror.
Big Catch, Sparkle Edition
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Yeah, that's unsalvagable.
Speaking of NightmareFuel.Super Mario Bros, I'm seeing some pretty weak examples on there, such as the Hammer Bros. chasing Mario (which you have to go out of your way to see), the fire bars, and one example claiming that the Super Mushrooms that come out of blocks are actually the severed heads of transformed Toads (which the next bullet point immediately refutes).
Kill la Kill is full of spoiler tags.
A Kitsune Balancing Act
Digressing from SSB:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/AskAPony
This page was clearly written in the hayday of MLP:FIM ask blogs, and is quite outdated in how it's written. Many of these blogs either no longer exist or have been replaced by some weird bots or something. So unless someone here knows of an archive, there is no longer a way to verify the nightmarish value of these posts.
Blogs that no longer exist but are archived in some form:
Ask Pinkamena Diane Pie - has dubs on Youtube
Scootaloo the Sadist - also has Youtube dubs
Ask Little Miss Rarity - archived on derpibooru
Ask Princess Molestia - also has dubs on Youtube
Blogs that are deleted:
Ask Friendly Twilight
Ask Flutterstalker
Psycho Ponyville
Gilda Replies
Ask Bubblini Da Vinci Berry
Blogs that are still up:
Ask Corrupted Twilight Sparkle
Fractured Loyalty
Ask Crapplejack
Ask Princess Sparkle
Loonadventure
Ask Loona
Ask Eldritch Discord
Scootaling
Ask Researcher Twilight
Ask Discorded Whooves
I'm deleting any section for a non existent blog by default.
I'm also deleting the sections for Princess Molestia, Princess Sparkle, and Loonadventure, because they definitely are not Nightmare Fuel. And the section for Fractured Loyalty is simply a plot synopsis, and nothing there is scary enough to be NF. Same with Crapplejack, Discorded Whooves, and Corrupted Twilight Sparkle, what's described in not scary enough. I haven't looked through Scootaling.
I will clean up ask Pinkamena, Scootaloo the Sadist, Ask Researcher Twilight and Lil Miss Rarity because some of those examples can be kept, while others are really stupid shoehorns. I'm also keeping Ask Loona and Ask Eldritch Discord because those blogs to me are very Nightmarish. Also going to clean those a bit too.
Sturgeon's Law is too YMMV for page examples, so WHY is it not a YMMV trope!?
Berserk Button: misusing Nightmare Fuel
Can the deleted blogs be accessed through the Wayback Machine? If you can find archived copies of the posts, they might be keepable. But I'm not sure if it's worth the effort.
I've gone and cut the most blatant Fridge Horror and speculation from NightmareFuel.Avengers Endgame. I'd still like more input before enacting the other changes from Sandbox.Avengers Endgame Nightmare Fuel.
Edited by Zuxtron on May 20th 2019 at 12:15:02 PM
A Kitsune Balancing Act
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=15046601260A53602600&page=44#comment-1090 here's the feedback I gave you for Endgame, can anyone else give Zuxtron some input?
I suppose I could look through the wayback machine for the deleted blogs just to see if anything was warranted, though tumblr blogs don't seem to preserve very well.
Sturgeon's Law is too YMMV for page examples, so WHY is it not a YMMV trope!?
Redmess
I think it would be best for these pages to verify, then lock as historical material.
Optimism is a duty.
Pokémon Music I feel needs some cleanup. As someone who grew up hearing a lot of these, I can say they earn their spot, but others I'm a bit more skeptical about
The specific ones
- The Regis battle theme from Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald. It's ominous, sure, but it isn't quite nightmarish. And I thought it was cool when I was young hearing it
- The Legendary Beast battle theme from Crystal. The beginning is startling, sure, but the rest is awesome and startling alone isn't NF
- The Pokemon Ranger Guardian Signs one. In-Universe Nightmare Fuel doesn't count, right?
- The unused Yellow track. I'm seeing multiple comments saying it isn't scary, and to me sounds more tense than scary
- Lake Trio battle theme. Sounds very tense, but it's way too awesome to be nightmare fuel
- Deoxys battle theme. The beginning is creepy, sure, but like the Lake Trio theme, the rest is too awesome to be NF
Berserk Button: misusing Nightmare Fuel
I see YouTube comments of people claiming that the Regis theme and legendary beasts theme are scary, so I'd keep them.
Speaking of Pokemon, NightmareFuel.Pokemon Moves still exists. Nearly everything on the page is just describing attacks without even trying to make it sound scary. There is a lot of Fridge Horror as well, some even being potholed to. I wouldn't be opposed to deleting the whole page because I see very little worth keeping.
Redmess
I'm not sure if You Tube comments are really the best source for what's "scary". I think that has the same issues that started this cleanup thread in the first place.
Optimism is a duty.
Berserk Button: misusing Nightmare Fuel
It does demonstrate that some people do find it scary. Nightmare Fuel is subjective; if an example doesn't violate any of the objective rules (not Fridge Horror, speculation, In-Universe, or a Zero-Context Example) and has scared many people, I don't see why we should delete it.
Tyrannoraptoran Reptiliomorph
Redmess
Fair enough. Just making sure we are not getting a "troper is afraid of everything" example.
Optimism is a duty.
A Kitsune Balancing Act
Having played Pokemon a lot, I can tell you that the moves, in game, are nothing to be scared about. Even for children. The only way I could think of them being scary is in retrospect after thinking about what exactly is happening, therefore making it Fridge Horror.
Like Gear Grind for example. Yeah, being crushed between gears is a scary thought, but that's not what's being seen in game, it's just two gears closing in on the target's sprite and moving really fast. Or Icicle Crash: being impaled by icicles is scary (and has actually happened) but in game, it's just icicles falling on a sprite, and it isn't getting impaled.
And then some others are just... really weird examples? Like Toxic is just describing the Badly Poisoned status, and Primarina's Z move would only be terrifying to someone with crippling aquaphobia.
I don't think this page is worth keeping, it could be a Fridge page, but that's a maybe.
@Redmess I'm not sure what you mean by verifying the pages?
Sturgeon's Law is too YMMV for page examples, so WHY is it not a YMMV trope!?
Redmess
I thought you mentioned that the blogs are no longer up, so you couldn't verify if the nightmare fuel is actually there.
Optimism is a duty.
A Kitsune Balancing Act
Yeah I did mention that, so I don't know how to find them, except maybe the wayback machine
Sturgeon's Law is too YMMV for page examples, so WHY is it not a YMMV trope!?
Pokemon Moves should be cut.
Edited by KingofNightmares on May 20th 2019 at 10:00:15 AM
—signature not found—
don't ask me about my niche
I think Cool Cat Saves the Kids need some cleanup, especially the part cover Derek Savage attempting to dox someone.
Berserk Button: misusing Nightmare Fuel
I deleted it, but when you see a Real Life example on a No Real Life Examples, Please! page, you don't need to ask before getting rid of it.
Showtime!
Removed the cyberstalker entries for NightmareFuel.The Mysterious Mr Enter. I also think this is worth a cut, but I wanted to run it by the thread
- "Further Thoughts on Homer Badman" has him explaining his feelings toward the possibility of either being raped by a woman or being falsely accused of rape, and discusses the hypothetical but all too realistic problems that would arise for him in this situations. In the former case, if his rapist becomes pregnant, he would be desperately trying to fight for full custody of the child, not wanting the child to be raised by a rapist—noting exactly how hard this would be because he would be forced to explain how his career is "yelling at Spongebob for a living" and the fact that even if he did get full custody, he'd still be struggling as a fairly young single parent. And even if the rape doesn't result in pregnancy, he notes he would be treated as a joke for being raped by a woman. If he's falsely accused of rape? He describes a scenario wherein his channel is suspended, he's in very real danger of going to jail, will likely be registered as a sex offender for it, everything he's ever said would be used as evidence to further incriminate him, he's sure he'd end up wanting to kill himself and there would likely be people who genuinely want him to do it. If he manages to win his case and escape without punishment? Very few people would believe he's innocent, instead it would result in people insisting that the justice system has "failed the victim" and he'll be seen as a monster no matter what. His conclusion is ultimately that he'd rather be raped than falsely accused of rape, for the simple reason that...
"I'd rather be seen as a joke than a monster."
Edited by Libraryseraph on May 22nd 2019 at 9:58:32 AM
Absolute destiny... apeachalypse?
That doesn't seem too bad. He's just talking about a potential Real Life event that could be scary, rather than an actual thing that happened to him.
A Kitsune Balancing Act
That example is Adult Fear. I don't know how well it fits into Nightmare Fuel if this much explanation is needed.
Maybe it's just me, but why would Mr. Enter even need a Nightmare Fuel page? Much of the fuel comes from what he's reviewing, doesn't it? It's not a sketch driven show like Nostalgia Critic so I don't really get it.
Edited by WhiteCheddaPikachu on May 22nd 2019 at 3:49:44 PM
Sturgeon's Law is too YMMV for page examples, so WHY is it not a YMMV trope!?
Bringing Roblox to the table, after noticing it on a whim while skimming the main page (was thinking of making a new page for Fantastic Frontier, one of the games made through that site.) I can't go through them in detail right now but a lot of the examples are either not that scary in my opinion or lacking context.
"If you spent as much time fightin' as ye did hidin', maybe this wouldn't have happened!"