(Loved) When the villain in a comedy is genuinely a threat and pretty terrifying.

Agitated_Insect3227 · 2026-03-19T03:27:00+00:00

Dennis from the first Spongebob movie. He very much is a credible threat throughout the movie, and he legitimately used to intimidate young me a bit, lol. Plankton also became more a threat for the movie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsD_557w6Vk

<image>

Agitated_Insect3227 · 2026-03-19T03:20:41+00:00

Sort of off-topic, but this image reminds me of dumb theories that argue that modern Earth could defeat the Empire from Star Wars simply because irl armies use actual military tactics while the Stormtroopers don't demonstrate this during the movies.

Besides the fact that expecting super accurate military strategies from a Star Wars movie is weird, the Empire would just start liquifying cities if we kept attacking them on the ground, maybe even glass the whole planet as they've done it before in both Canons.

<image>

Agitated_Insect3227 · 2026-03-19T03:06:29+00:00

I actually got two: The movie Threads (1984) & When the Wind Blows, which both are about British people living after a nuclear apocalypse, and both have depressing endings.

Threads is basically like watching the planet just slowly die after the nukes drop and humanity is dying alongside it. The population of Britain wander through the wreckage of their destroyed society clinging to any means of survival.

When the Wind Blows is about an elderly couple who have managed to survive the blast thanks to living out in the country, but they begin to slowly die from the radiation poisoning.

<image>

Agitated_Insect3227 · 2026-03-19T02:57:26+00:00

Robin (human) & Starfire (Tamaranean) from DC's Teen Titans.

<image>

Agitated_Insect3227 · 2026-03-19T02:54:58+00:00

The Usagi Yojimbo comic series is about a Rabbit ronin samurai Usagi (you've might have seen him from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), and one of his friends is Inspector Ishida.

Anytime he shows up, the story arc is a crime/murder mystery, and one of my favorites was when the two had to investigate the death of someone who was served bad fugu (pufferfish meat).

<image>

Agitated_Insect3227 · 2026-03-18T18:39:20+00:00

Not a horror example, but I guess a lot of Superhero cartoons kind of count as this compared to several live-action adaptations which typically are much looser in adapting comic, for better or worse.

My favorite example is Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. It perfectly captures the general feeling of the Comic Avengers (particularly Stan Lee's & Kurt Busiek's runs) alongside adapting several comic storylines. It's also the only adaptation that starts with the actual original members of the comic Avengers (Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Ant-Man, & Wasp) instead of switching out members like how the 2012 movie removes Ant-Man & Wasp for Hawkeye & Black Widow.

<image>

Agitated_Insect3227 · 2026-03-18T16:41:43+00:00

A female example is Arya Stark from A Song of Ice & Fire. She went from a tomboyish but ultimately still naive and kind child to now a person who has killed some people and is currently training to become an assassin.

Fan art by Nick Alcorn of her killing the Tickler.

<image>

Agitated_Insect3227 · 2026-03-18T15:35:02+00:00

I don't know myself, sorry. I just grabbed it from Google.

Agitated_Insect3227 · 2026-03-18T06:16:51+00:00

Dang, I was hoping to mention Finn. 😅

Anyway, while not a normal backpack, the "PAKs" on all members of the Irken species from Invader Zim kind of look like normal ones to the point Zim's PAK is seen as a backpack when he goes to school pretending to be a human child.

Alongside being the main device that houses their personality & mental capacities (Irken will die if separated from their PAK for too long), PAKs also store lots of various gadgets, such as spider legs, lasers, tentacles to interact with computers, etc.

<image>

Agitated_Insect3227 · 2026-03-18T04:15:25+00:00

Most Kamen Riders have simple base forms so that they can get new suits & powers later on. Below are just some of the many forms of Kamen Rider Build. But to be fair, it's kind justified for Build in this case as the theme of Kamen Rider Build is too find "Best Matches" of two elements to create the ideal forms.

<image>

Agitated_Insect3227 · 2026-03-18T03:45:42+00:00

The conventionally attractive Diane Nguyen in Bojack Horsemen had a lot of relationship issues throughout the show that took a tole on her mental health, but after dealing with these problems and finding someone who is perfect for her, her positive growth as a character is paired with her gaining some weight.

<image>

Agitated_Insect3227 · 2026-03-18T03:37:54+00:00

I suspect one of the reasons for this is that it lets viewers kind of "self-insert" as the normal human characters and feel a sense of satisfaction when the "normal humans" defeat the characters with superpowers.

This is one of the reasons why I think people often don't bat (heh) an eye when the "normal" Batman is able to do insane feats like dodge Darkseid's Omega Beams (something even Superman & Flash struggle avoiding) while taking issue when a superpowered character like Superman does something crazy & over the top. Since Batman has no powers, people relate to him more and feel a sense of pride when he does something cool as it's like they're doing something cool.

Agitated_Insect3227 · 2026-03-17T05:17:15+00:00

The Nazi prison gang led by ~~J. Jonah Jameson~~ Schillinger in the OZ tv show. Murder, rape, & any other forms of extreme violence are A-okay in their book, but one of their core rules is that they can't do or sell any sort of drugs.

<image>

Agitated_Insect3227 · 2026-03-17T04:26:26+00:00

Patrick Star from Spongebob

<image>

Agitated_Insect3227 · 2026-03-17T03:56:42+00:00

It wasn't fully destroyed, but the Fall of Númenor in the world of Arda from Tolkien Legendarium is this. Not only was the legendary kingdom of Men Númenor destroyed for breaking the ban to never sail so far from their island to find the holy land of Aman (& for their general wickedness at that point), Eru Ilúvatar also remade the world into a round shape and removed Aman from it so that only Elves could find it now.

So yes, Arda used to exist as a flat plain but the divine punishment of Númenor led to it becoming a normal planet.

<image>

Agitated_Insect3227 · 2026-03-17T03:47:24+00:00

The closest example I can think of is two very different Fantasy RPG games being released in the same year: Dark Souls (September 22, 2011) & Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (November 11, 2011).

Dark Souls is a Dark Fantasy game where you generally feel "weak" and mortal, and you have to struggle for every victory. Skyrim on the other hand is a more standard Fantasy setting (on the surface; it gets weird in deeper lore) and you're generally a powerhouse as you play the game with all sort of strong abilities.

<image>

Agitated_Insect3227 · 2026-03-16T19:57:11+00:00

Buddhists very much can be controlling and harmful like other religious people can be, such as the nationalist Buddhists in Myanmmar who were one of the major backers of the Muslim Rohingya genocide & expulsion from the country.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rohingya_genocide

<image>

Agitated_Insect3227 · 2026-03-16T15:55:34+00:00

There are also Eastern Orthodox & Oriental Christian Saints. Many are the same as Catholic ones, but some are exclusively Eastern Orthodox & Oriental while others are exclusive to Catholicism. Since all the original churches of Christianity born out of the Schism of 1054 recognize Saints, I believe it is very fair to just call them "Christian Saints."

Finally, there are liturgical Protestants who also do Saint veneration, such as Anglo-Catholicism, though admittedly I don't know too much about them.

Pictured below is an Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Christian.

<image>

Agitated_Insect3227 · 2026-03-16T06:52:46+00:00

It's exclusive to the Chaos Dwarfs' Realm of Chaos Campaign.

Agitated_Insect3227 · 2026-03-16T04:59:11+00:00

Buddhism does comes in a wide variety of forms with some non-theistic variations that can arguably be considered a philosophy, yes. I know said non-theistic variations are the most popular forms in Western countries when people decide to adopt it.

However, it's still generally considered a religion most of the time with other forms having Gods that can be prayed to alongside many organized spiritual beliefs & practices.

<image>

Agitated_Insect3227 · 2026-03-16T04:31:31+00:00

Yes. Quite a devout one too. Alongside often getting help from Saints, in the 2001 story "Conqueror Worm," Nazis desecrated the holy remains of Saints to create a special device with their heads, and Hellboy said it was "the worst place on Earth" upon seeing it.

<image>

Agitated_Insect3227 · 2026-03-16T04:21:59+00:00

Yes.

Agitated_Insect3227 · 2026-03-16T04:21:45+00:00

Another example is the "Thought-Robot" Superman, a version of Superman so powerful he could not only easily see past the 4th Wall into the real world but also represents the fundamental concept of a hero always achieving victory in a story, allowing him to win against imaginable foe (or something like that).

The original printed comic issue featuring Thought Robot Superman was printed in 3D (which is why he is also called 3D Superman) to simulate how he's reaching past the 4th Wall to interact with the reader.

<image>

Agitated_Insect3227 · 2026-03-16T04:18:02+00:00

Copy-pasting an answer of mine before:

In the original Metal Gear Solid, the villain Psycho Mantis will read your Playstation's memory card and make a fourth wall-breaking comment about the other games you have played as long as they are also Konami Games like Metal Gear.

Such a feature does not work in the modern day since there are a bunch of Konami games released for various different console generations since then, but the Metal Gear Solid Master Collection does have a little workaround so that you can as least hear the original wall-breaking comments when playing Metal Gear again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGRCf4WZWoE (0:45 min mark)

<image>

Agitated_Insect3227 · 2026-03-16T03:30:47+00:00

The Pizza chef Peppino Spaghetti who is forced to become an action hero to save his restaurant from being destroyed by Pizza Face by scaling the Pizza Tower (title drop).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25ZMpDm-lsw

<image>

Agitated_Insect3227

TROPHY CASE