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Nightmare Fuel cleanup and maintenance

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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.

    Nightmare Fuel rules 
  • 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.
  • 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

ImperialMajestyXO Since: Nov, 2015
#2401: Mar 19th 2020 at 6:51:31 PM

[up][up] I think you're applying the term Fridge Horror a bit too liberally. Also, these games are E-rated, so the threshold's a bit lower.

KingofNightmares Since: Aug, 2016 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
WarJay77 It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (26,131/50,000) from My Writing Cave (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (26,131/50,000)
#2403: Mar 20th 2020 at 12:42:58 PM

Right, basically our goal here isn't to cut everything and everything that we aren't personally scared by. We're here to cut things that are outright misuses of the trope first and foremost (Fridge Horror, speculation, meta stuff, things that never actually made it into the work), and then weed out the things that wouldn't actually scare someone in the work's target audience- and if we have any confirmation that someone was in fact scared of a specific thing, we keep it or put it back up.

So if you're going to stick around on this thread, welcome, but please try and not be as overeager to chop things. Try and think from the perspective of the target audience when they first experienced the work.

...All that reminds me though, I never did really get consensus on how to handle Marble Hornets, which is a genuinely scary series but literally everything that might even be a bit unsettling is on the page. I want to plug my sandbox of the page analysis to see if anyone has more thoughts on it.

Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper Wall
Larkmarn Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Hello, I love you
#2404: Mar 20th 2020 at 1:55:59 PM

NightmareFuel.Frozen 2013 was made recently and it's... not good. There's a dearth of examples, a ton of BOLD inflation with lots of usually incorrect potholes and... well, the examples are weak. Really weak. One of them is "there are pointy icicles."

Found a Youtube Channel with political stances you want to share? Hop on over to this page and add them.
ShinyCottonCandy Everyone's friend Malamar from Lumiose City (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Everyone's friend Malamar
#2405: Mar 20th 2020 at 2:01:42 PM

[up]It might be a good idea to discuss with the page creator, ~tropers/botuczy.

Edit: Or someone else can do the message...

Edited by ShinyCottonCandy on Mar 20th 2020 at 5:02:39 AM

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Brainulator9 Short-Term Projects herald from US Since: Aug, 2018 Relationship Status: I get a feeling so complicated...
Short-Term Projects herald
#2406: Mar 20th 2020 at 2:11:54 PM

~botuczy, see [up]

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ImperialMajestyXO Since: Nov, 2015
#2407: Mar 20th 2020 at 2:12:11 PM

...I have to admit, I don't understand the caption on that page. Is "dangerous icicles" a figure of speech I'm not aware of?

Brainulator9 Short-Term Projects herald from US Since: Aug, 2018 Relationship Status: I get a feeling so complicated...
Short-Term Projects herald
#2408: Mar 20th 2020 at 2:15:22 PM

I don't get it, either. The whole page is not very good, though I won't doubt that some things may be scary for the youngest of children that may be watching.

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jandn2014 SMILE! from somewhere in Connecticut Since: Aug, 2017 Relationship Status: Hiding
SMILE!
#2409: Mar 20th 2020 at 6:02:05 PM

NightmareFuel.Wreck It Ralph has a lot of questionable stuff that seems more suited for Fridge Horror than anything else:

  • Surge Protector is the Game Central Station. He is everywhere.

  • Consider Fix-It Felix. The way these games usually go, the player controls an avatar until lives are exhausted, so Ralph always wins in the end. We saw Felix's "death" routine at the party. Felix must die many, many times every day, yet it has no effect on his upbeat personality.

  • With regards to the other game characters in TurboTime after Turbo bailed out to destroy RoadBlasters just for stealing his "thunder," it's left vague as to what happened to them after the game was unplugged. It is possible they were either rendered homeless like Q*bert and stranded in Game Central Station, or worse, they were all killed when they all couldn't evacuate their game in time. Since no one sees them in Game Central Station, it's very likely they were killed.

  • What happens to actual glitches in arcade games? Are they all doomed to live lives of isolation in Dummied Out levels as long as their game is plugged in? And worse, not have anyone to call out to because glitches cannot leave their home game?

  • Technically, it's worse for Calhoun — Markowski, as one of hundreds of generic soldiers, could presumably take the occasional day off for a therapy session and no one would notice. Calhoun is a major game character guiding the player — no matter how scared, hurt, or emotionally compromised she is, she has to be there. It's a beautiful, if morbid, sentiment in its own right; she is a soldier, an officer of war in the name of peace. Through hell and high water, rain and hail, glitches and power outages, she has a duty. A Hero's Duty. Calhoun is the real hero of Hero's Duty because she endures all these horrors without hope of relief.

  • It might even be worse than this: unless this actually takes place in one of the game's cutscenes, it's just a memory the game developers programmed into the character.
  • If it does take place in a cutscene, then she has to relive her fiance's death every time someone plays the game.

  • The idea that a villain could rewrite your beliefs and relationships, simply by messing with your code.

  • The scene where Ralph interrogates Sour Bill is funny... but when you stop to think about it, Ralph really was hurting Sour Bill quite badly. Bill himself comments being licked feels like sand-paper. Try taking a card of sand-paper and running your finger over it (higher grit for more fun). Press in hard and rub. Now imagine that getting forcibly rubbed across your face, possibly repeatedly. Not so funny, is it? If Sour Bill weren't a piece of hard candy, the whole scene probably would've been a lot more ugly.

And there's some stuff that simply isn't Nightmare Fuel:

KingofNightmares Since: Aug, 2016 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
#2410: Mar 21st 2020 at 1:00:10 AM

[up] It used to be much worse in the Fridge Horror department.....either way, cut those entries

Also, I remember Frozen (2013) being cut in the past by this thread and that remade page isn't helping at all since it looks so bad.

"It was the best of times, it was the BLURST of times?"
jandn2014 SMILE! from somewhere in Connecticut Since: Aug, 2017 Relationship Status: Hiding
SMILE!
#2411: Mar 21st 2020 at 9:56:07 AM

I do think there might be enough stuff in Frozen (2013) to constitute for a Nightmare Fuel page, but none of the examples currently on there are good.

maxwellsilver Since: Sep, 2011
#2412: Mar 21st 2020 at 11:23:20 AM

NightmareFuel.Lighter Than Heir can be cut.

Edited by maxwellsilver on Mar 21st 2020 at 4:23:14 AM

Dghcrh You can't escape this monster from Small country that looks like a fish Since: Dec, 2016 Relationship Status: Shipping fictional characters
You can't escape this monster
#2413: Mar 22nd 2020 at 6:18:24 AM

NightmareFuel.Jessie really needs a cleanup. While I think there is some salvageable stuff and I don't think the entire page should be cut, most of the correct stuff is ZCE, not to mention it doesn't even mention from what episode they are, which doesn't help since I haven't seen the show for a while. Most of the scenes that have enough context are just not examples. For instance, at least three entries are simply about an eight-year old kid being aware of sexual stuff.

    Jessie 
  • Creepy Connie. Especially when she's dressed up like a Dementor, and when she threatens Luke with a flamethrower!
    • Mackenzie, a.k.a. Mad Mac, although she was only acting.
      • Stuart, to a lesser extent. Connie and Mad Mac maybe, but Stuart no.
  • In "Star Wars", Morgan scares the kids with a realistic beating heart that he pretends bursts out of his chest.I'm not sure about this one. Seems just like a Jump Scare.
  • The Lady Gaga cosplayer in "Take the A-Train… I Think?". It's even lampshaded by Emma.Not scary. Delete.
  • Madeline from "What A Steal":
    • She is only a child and already she has turned to crime, even involving her older brother as her accomplice in her nefarious plot to steal the Ross's valuables. And to think.... this is the same actress who plays sweet and adorable Chloe James, thus rendering Madeline's behavior all the more disturbing, especially when she attempts to justify her betrayal against Ravi with "Sorry, nerd, it's just business". Even a ten-year-old child knows that business, by definition, is about the art of negotiation, and that it's not a negotiation when she and her accomplice hold the Ross kids and their nanny as hostages in their own home!
    • The very idea of a child committing grand larceny at any age is terrifying enough to make anyone shudder. Frankly, it takes both Troubling Unchildlike Behavior and Adult Fear to a whole new level, especially as far as Morgan and Christina are concerned, since, were they to find out about it, they would have to constantly worry not just about home security, but more than that; they'd constantly fret about their kids' lives being put in danger by their very own peers. If a young child and her minion(s) commit grand larceny on Day 1, what's on their agenda for Day 2? Mass murder?! To say nothing about how terrifying it is for any right-minded adult to think of an otherwise bright and precocious child like Madeline completely ruining the rest of her own life by committing such a heinous crime in the first place. It makes you wonder what kind of background of bad influences she has witnessed and/or experienced. Most of this sounds like Fridge Horror to me, but there may be some decent stuff.
  • Zuri’s creepy dolls. It’s even worse when one of them gets its face melted with a blowdryer. That was pretty creepy from what I remember.
  • Millie the mermaid’s gruesome “death”. Delete. It's just an imaginary friend with an equally imaginary death. Would fall more under Tear Jerker since Zuri is genuinely saddened by this, though.
  • The fact that Jessie almost got married. Not only was she a bit young (she was 22 at the time), but her arch nemesis Mrs. Chesterfield would have been her MOTHER-IN-LAW.No explanation needed. Delete.
  • Mrs. Chesterfield in general. She threatened to skin Mrs. Kipling, was possessed by Zorag, is a major pervert (especially towards Bertram), and she only married for money. The fact that we never see or hear of her ex-husbands is even scarier.None of these make her scary. She's just a character who's supposed to be hated. Delete.
  • Emma’s tea slime growing. No wonder Luke was afraid of it. Don't remember this.
  • The dead nanny from the 20s trying to take the candy. This neither.
  • Jessie going insane in “The Whining”. Considering what it’s a parody of, this is pretty dark for a kids’ show. Sounds scary, but again, don't remember this.
  • Emma, Luke, Zeus, Mrs. Kipling, and Mrs. Chesterfield getting possessed.The episods was fairly creepy, but it was also just a dream, so IDK
  • Mad Max, Connie’s actress friend. She has a necklace made of her own TEETH.Duplicate example. Should be merged with the one above.
  • Jessie’s crush on a boy who only ate GARBAGE. Not only is this incredibly disgusting, it’s also dangerous. People who do this in real life could end up swallowing razor blades and the like.Fridge Horror + not scary. Delete.
  • Jessie’s bite wound, while played for laughs, could have killed her. Emma stabbing it with a fork would make anyone wince. Don't remember this, but it doesn't sound scary.
  • It’s implied that Luke used to be an orphan, since Kenny was “all he had” before he met the Ross family. The thought of a young boy all alone with only a stuffed animal for company is equal parts sad and scary, especially since he was hellbent on finding his birth mother. Sounds more like Tear Jerker to me.
  • Mrs. Kipling crawling into Jessie’s bed. The scream is certainly understandable. Doesn't sound scary.
  • Jessie being trapped in the circus toilet. Not at scary az the creepy dolls tbh. The scene where the creepy dolls appear inside the toilet cabin in real life (rather than the characters' dreams) may count, though
  • Bertram and Luke trying to kill the spider. Once they do, the babies come for revenge. This would make any arachnophobe paranoid. Keep, but channge the description a bit. While I wouldn't say every scene with the spider is creepy, the scene where Bertram and Luke discover the cinema room filled with spider web from the mother spider's babies is disturbing
  • Luke raging after having his eyebrows ripped off. It’s a side of him you NEVER want to see. Eh, while he looks weird without eyebrows, I wouldn't say scary. But for children, IDK
  • Zuri saying that someone was “asking for it” in one episode. Not only is it disturbing for a kid’s show to reference rape, but this comment is incredibly offensive to rape victims. Also, Zuri is eight. How would she know what rape is? Delete. Explained above.
  • Some of Emma’s behavior isn’t exactly age-appropriate, such as flirting with older men, stuffing her bra, and dressing provocatively. No wonder Jessie told her to change her clothes for school once.Delete.
  • The banned episode that made fun of Stuart’s gluten allergy. While Stuart is annoying and Bertram can be quite insensitive, making fun of someone’s medical condition is never okay. Delete.
  • The kids being “sent to the ghost world” during Stuart’s Halloween party. The creepy phone footage is very realistic and convincing. Maybe? Sounds like a convincing entry, but I don't remember the episode.
  • A girl’s wig being made of hair she found on the bus. It’s nauseating to wonder how and why she did this. Not scary, Fridge Horror, delete.
  • Jessie is partially deaf due to having a marble stuck in her ear. It’s been there for a long time, but we never know if she ever got it removed or exactly how much damage it’s done, i.e. if it eventually got lodged in her BRAIN.Fridge Horror, delete.
  • Bertram’s leprechaun costume. What's that?
  • Jessie being thrown from the taxi in the first episode. While she is understandably angry, she is extremely lucky to not have been severely injured or hit by a car. Just slapstick. Delete.
  • The state of Tony’s apartment. His doorman job doesn’t pay very well, and it’s severely cramped in there. Plus it’s infested with vermin. It makes you wonder how he manages to clean himself up, or even SURVIVE from being that impoverished and living in substandard housing. He eventually decides to become a firefighter. We don’t blame him.While I admit having a fear of some "house deffects" and badly damaged houses, I don't think other people would find this scary.
  • The little girl destroying Zuri’s dolls and pushing the family down the stairs on a makeshift sled. Zuri understandably calls her a “monster”.Again, may count but I don't remember the episode.
  • Zuri throwing Millie the mermaid off the chair before letting Jessie sit down, leaving some “scales” behind. It’s a good thing Millie’s an imaginary friend, or this could not have ended well.It already explains why it's NOT scary
  • One of Zuri’s stuffed animals is dressed like Hugh Hefner, better known as the rapist in charge of the Playboy Mansion before his death. Once again, Zuri is EIGHT. Let that sink in. Also, her toy baboon gets his crotch ripped off, prompting her to say that “he’ll never have children”.
  • Millie the mermaid having a rather questionable job in a dream sequence, with Zuri saying “don’t judge her”. Just how much sexual content is this little girl exposed to?Delete both this and the above entry
  • Luke’s actor, Cameron Boyce, died in his sleep in 2019. He was only 20. Sweet dreams!Already deleted. Meta example that falls more under Tear Jerker, anyway.
It also tends to forget some of the more legitimatrly scary things, like the episode where Ravi imagines what would happen if Luke played a certain prank on Bertram (short answer: his body without his head gets destroyed and his head is attached to a machine, and later to a vacuum.)

Edited by Dghcrh on Mar 22nd 2020 at 3:19:15 PM

I'm mainly a fan of underrated media.
Kirby0189 Kirby is shaped like a friend from America Since: Apr, 2019 Relationship Status: I like big bots and I can not lie
Kirby is shaped like a friend
#2414: Mar 22nd 2020 at 7:17:02 AM

Could I please ask again for an ok for that proposed Gundam SEED page rewrite? No one commented on it and it's been five days now. Sorry if this sounds pushy.

As for something else, I'm unsure about the last bullet for the entry on YMMV.Something About. While the other entries on the page are about things that are certainly meant to be scary (albeit in a Crosses the Line Twice kind of way), the video the last bullet is referring to is an Anti-Humor Take That! without any seemingly-intentionally scary stuff compared to Mario's Jump Scare or Marx's expressions (for context, the scene is two gray blocks trying to follow COPPA guidelines by being as bland as possible). What do you guys think?

<(0_0<) <(0_0)> (>0_0)> KIRBY DANCE
KingofNightmares Since: Aug, 2016 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
#2415: Mar 22nd 2020 at 11:54:47 AM

[up] The rewrite is okay (if you were scared by those moments and/or know that others were scared by them, then usually it's okay)

As for that Something About COPPA video, I'm kind of split. On one hand, the droning is incredibly creepy, but the dialogue is funny to me. I lean a bit more toward cutting it since nothing actually scary happens, but I'd like to hear other opinions

"It was the best of times, it was the BLURST of times?"
Larkmarn Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Hello, I love you
#2416: Mar 23rd 2020 at 6:16:23 AM

Yeah, I bet there's enough in Frozen (2013) for a page but... the examples on there now are A: Not scary B: Poorly written, C: Break a ton of other basic editing rules.

Motion to cut the page?

Edited by Larkmarn on Mar 23rd 2020 at 9:19:25 AM

Found a Youtube Channel with political stances you want to share? Hop on over to this page and add them.
KingofNightmares Since: Aug, 2016 Relationship Status: Above such petty unnecessities
#2417: Mar 23rd 2020 at 7:41:13 AM

[up] Yes, kill the Frozen page. I said it before, and I'll say it again that to me, nothing in the movie was nightmare fuel for me even when I was 10, and that page isn't swaying my opinion at all

"It was the best of times, it was the BLURST of times?"
ImperialMajestyXO Since: Nov, 2015
#2418: Mar 23rd 2020 at 9:27:44 AM

Let's hold off on cutting it for now. I think we should speak with whoever created it and give them a chance to defend it.

ShinyCottonCandy Everyone's friend Malamar from Lumiose City (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Everyone's friend Malamar
#2419: Mar 23rd 2020 at 9:34:17 AM

[up]We tried calling in the creator of the Frozen NF page, but no response.

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AlmightyKingPrawn I can chase the wind, I can race the rain from Down at Fraggle Rock *clap clap* Since: Oct, 2019 Relationship Status: I love you for psychological reasons
I can chase the wind, I can race the rain
#2420: Mar 23rd 2020 at 9:52:57 AM

I think we can safely cut NightmareFuel.Looney Tunes Back In Action. There are only 4 entries, and having watched the film on Saturday all of them are Played for Laughs.

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Got a taste for scotch and abusive guys
#2421: Mar 23rd 2020 at 10:31:53 PM

NightmareFuel.Peanuts? Good grief!

    Peanuts 
  • In one strip, Charlie Brown, not having a kite to fly, attaches some string to Snoopy's collar and uses him as a kite, who uses his ears to create the lift needed to fly. But it doesn't work for long, and Snoopy plummets to the ground and SHATTERS into a hundred pieces!! Luckily it was just Snoopy having a nightmare from eating too much pizza before sleeping, but still, that image of him shattering in front of his master must've upset a LOT of kids at the time! Here's the link for those who want it. All just a dream, so nothing bad really happened. Remove.
  • One story arc has Linus's blanket come to life and start stalking and attacking Lucy at every opportunity to the point where she stays outside all night hiding from it. At one point it lunges out of Linus's hands at her, and it has a mouth. As a kid, I read this strip and it definitely creeped me out a bit, but not in any meaningful way. Remove.
  • In one very old series of strips set in winter back in February of 1960, Snoopy wakes up to find an icicle the size of a sword dangling over his doghouse, and was too terrified to budge an inch, lest it crash down and kill him. Eventually, Charlie Brown convinced him to make a dash for it by placing a freshly baked pizza several hundred yards away; when he caught a whiff of his favorite food, he charged for it and escaped, just in time, as true to his fear, the icicle crashed down and destroyed the doghouse. What was terrifying was how much Truth in Television this is – icicles can and have killed people. To be fair, though, it does end with a Crowning Line of Funny: Tension is not nightmare fuel.
    Charlie Brown and Lucy: Saved by a Pizza!
    Snoopy: Good grief!
  • The way Lucy was originally depicted in the strip can have a potentially Uncanny Valley feel. Just look at her. Eh, it isn't too bad.
  • The strip from October 21, 1984, features Snoopy and the Beagle Scouts sitting around a campfire at night. Snoopy tells them that there's a full moon out, and that they had better be careful, because when the full moon is out, he turns into a "Werebeagle". Snoopy is briefly shown as a Werebeagle for a single panel, which scares the Beagle Scouts. Not scary.
  • One December 1952 strip showed Lucy showing Linus to sit up close to the television, after the third panel of that strip, well, take a look what happened in the final panel of the strip. Weblinks aren't examples! This is pretty disconcerting, but not NF.
  • What a Nightmare, Charlie Brown!!: Snoopy has a horrible Acid Reflux Nightmare where he's stuck working as a sled dog in the Alaskan wilderness; he's abused and starved, becomes feral, and then dies getting pulled into a frozen lake, screaming and clawing for his life. Even if the whole special was All Just a Dream, one could argue that this was inappropriate for the Peanuts specials' target audience. Yeah, I think this can stay. It's so bizarre and child unfriendly. Although it should go on the special's own YMMV page.
  • In A Boy Named Charlie Brown we get a Disney Acid Sequence to the tune of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 8. Not only does it totally come out of nowhere, but those foreboding church paintings and that....face thing at the end floating around on a pure black background can look VERY unsettling to you as a child. Needs elaboration, already on A Boy Named Charlie Brown's YMMV page.
  • In A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, we get the sight of Snoopy and Woodstock enjoying a Thanksgiving feast. A cooked turkey is on the table as we watch Snoopy and Woodstock thoroughly enjoying their meal. Everyone knows that a turkey is a bird...and so is Woodstock... Did somebody leave the Fridge door open?
  • In It's a Mystery Charlie Brown!, Snoopy and Woodstock sneak into the school's science fair to reclaim Woodstock's nest but also play around with some of the exhibits. One of them gives Snoopy an electrical shock, and he briefly turns into a screaming skeleton. Eh, I don't think this is scary. Sounds funny.
  • The art style for Blue Sky Studios' movie adaptation can have an Uncanny Valley effect on some viewers. Seriously?
  • At the beginning of the "Suppertime" segment in "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown!", Snoopy imagines himself starving to death and we see his skeleton. Well, it's just his imagination.
  • From It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown:
    • The whole "Snoopy shot down behind enemy lines" sequence. That eerie flute music (coupled with the distant gunfire and air-raid siren) doesn't help. I think this scene has awesome artistic value. It didn't scare me as a kid, though.
    • Not to mention the opening title sequence, which shows the kids in their costumes running around in terror from huge, ghostly Halloween monsters like skeletons, witches, and big black cats while disembodied Evil Laughter is heard. They eventually hide in a pumpkin patch, but the sequence ends with an Ominous Owl flying at the screen. The whole thing is a Disney Acid Sequence and Big-Lipped Alligator Moment, to boot. Eh, just some generic Halloween scares.
    • Completely justified, of course, since this is a Halloween Special we're talking about. Justifying edit.
  • There's a Peanuts cartoon that's pretty freaky, despite it being All Just a Dream. Charlie Brown decides to fly Snoopy like a kite. It all starts funnily enough, as the wind under Snoopy's flapping ears lifts him higher and higher. To Charlie's initial delight, until he suddenly reacts with a horrified "NO! Oh, NO!!!!" And Snoopy plummets from the sky, impacts with the ground, and smashes (albeit bloodlessly) into fragments like a dropped vase. Cue a terrified Snoopy waking up in a cold sweat: "Man! I've GOT to stop eating those 30-inch pizzas before bedtime!" Why is this repeated?
  • Though it's not official, WITS did a sketch of an "unpublished lost strip", with Paget Brewster as Lucy, regarding the ol' classic football gag. Except that she insists that she never pulled the football away, and he's just imagining it. Like the kite-eating tree, or Snoopy being alive. It's not clear which is worse; the idea that Charlie's been hallucinating everything we just chalked up to "comic strip weirdness", or that a little girl is that good at gaslighting someone. Fan-made.
  • A meta example: Early runs of the strip featured a minor character named Charlotte Braun, who was not very well-liked by fans due to her one-note personality. A young fan wrote to Schulz to complain about her, and his reply was that he would eventually take Charlotte Braun out of the strip, but he warned her that she would have “the death of an innocent child” on her conscience, and asked her if she was prepared to accept such a responsibility. At the bottom of the letter was a drawing of Charlotte Braun with an axe planted in her head. Yikes. Meta.
  • A minor one but any of the Volumetric Mouth moments can come off as this to those who aren't used to it. Seriously?

Fortune favors bravery, and a fortune's what I've got!
GastonRabbit The Quiet One (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
The Quiet One (he/him)
#2422: Mar 24th 2020 at 1:43:39 AM

I'm a bit late on this, but I've never seen Frozen, and I don't understand the image caption on its NF page. The "Literally" part implies that "Dangerous icicles" is some kind of figure of speech, but I'm pretty sure it isn't actually one. (Is it a reference to an in-universe figure of speech?) As a result, I think the image caption sounds ridiculous, and can't help but chuckle because of that.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Mar 24th 2020 at 3:45:13 AM

You can't just say "perchance".
Redmess Redmess from Netherlands Since: Feb, 2014
Redmess
#2423: Mar 24th 2020 at 5:33:12 AM

[up]I don't think it is.

[up][up]Isn't having an actual nightmare an example of NF?

Hope shines brightest in the darkest times
Palindromee Relax, Ice Queen. from the Celestial Wasteland (Y2K) Relationship Status: I sleep in a big bed with my wife.
rjd1922 Best robot boy | he/him | Image Pickin' regular, from the United States Since: May, 2013 Relationship Status: Love is for the living, Sal
Best robot boy | he/him | Image Pickin' regular,
#2425: Mar 24th 2020 at 9:23:42 AM

BioShock Infinite is full of spoiler tags, Fridge Horror, and natter.

Keet cleanup

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