Kagami: [investigating a body] Wait, hey! This is no place for a kid!
Mizuki: What do you mean?...
Kagami: I mean, you're right next to the body!
Mizuki: So?
Kagami: 'So?!...'
[...]
Mizuki: I'm fine, I've seen worse...
Mizuki: What do you mean?...
Kagami: I mean, you're right next to the body!
Mizuki: So?
Kagami: 'So?!...'
[...]
Mizuki: I'm fine, I've seen worse...
Asriel: I've struck down ALMOST EVERYONE IN THE UNDERGROUND MULTIPLE TIMES. I've killed YOU, and DAD, and ALPHYS, PAPYRUS, the PAPERBOY— I MUST HAVE KILLED FRISK THOUSANDS OF TIMES!
Frisk: [unperturbed] And that's with some generous rounding-down.
Asriel: AND THAT HAUNTS ME!!
Frisk: [unperturbed] And that's with some generous rounding-down.
Asriel: AND THAT HAUNTS ME!!
— Asriel to Toriel, Growth Spurt
"Three more kids died tonight.
——ly surprised. Locals barely care.
——ness as usual."
——ly surprised. Locals barely care.
——ness as usual."
— Mysterious Journal, Sleepless Domain
Zoe: Is... this not terrifying to anyone else...?
[silence]
Bud: Things are definitely jacked up.
Vedika: I guess it's kinda hard to take in just how crazy everything has been lately.
Kokoro: Last night barely feels real to me, and I was there.
Undine: I think my terror receptors might just be burnt out at this point.
[silence]
Bud: Things are definitely jacked up.
Vedika: I guess it's kinda hard to take in just how crazy everything has been lately.
Kokoro: Last night barely feels real to me, and I was there.
Undine: I think my terror receptors might just be burnt out at this point.
Yukari: That's what you're crying about? Not about other students being killed and the festival being ruined, but only because you won't see the fireworks?
Rin: [nods] I wanted to see them so badly. I was really looking forward to it. But now... I can't!
Ahakon: How can that be the only thing she's upset about? Tsukune's isolated in Paradise, Ruby and Ren are staying with him there until his bloodlust is taken care of, the festival is ruined, and there are dead bodies everywhere!
Ran: We've... seen a lot worse working for our old master.
[Beat as everyone looks at Rin and Ran with concern]
Yukari: Oh... I see.
Rin: [nods] I wanted to see them so badly. I was really looking forward to it. But now... I can't!
Ahakon: How can that be the only thing she's upset about? Tsukune's isolated in Paradise, Ruby and Ren are staying with him there until his bloodlust is taken care of, the festival is ruined, and there are dead bodies everywhere!
Ran: We've... seen a lot worse working for our old master.
[Beat as everyone looks at Rin and Ran with concern]
Yukari: Oh... I see.
[After an extensive montage of the Flying Dutchman's scares and pranks]
SpongeBob: Um, Dutchy... is this gonna be much longer?
Flying Dutchman: Why aren't ya freakin' out, lad?
SpongeBob: Well, you've been here for a while and... well, I've seen all your tricks!
SpongeBob: Um, Dutchy... is this gonna be much longer?
Flying Dutchman: Why aren't ya freakin' out, lad?
SpongeBob: Well, you've been here for a while and... well, I've seen all your tricks!
Steven: I just wish we could've hung out more. I feel like I only get to see you when something horrible's going on.
Lapis Lazuli: That's just how it is with me.
Lapis Lazuli: That's just how it is with me.
Zack: [rolling down a hill on a large concrete pipe with Milo, screaming] Wait; why aren't you screaming!?!
Milo: I find it doesn't help. Just hurts the larynx.
Milo: I find it doesn't help. Just hurts the larynx.
Buffy took a deep breath as the Maid of Might flew them in for a swift landing. They touched ground by the doughnuted demons. The sight didn't agree with Kara. She noticed that Buffy took it in a more businesslike manner.
"Sorry," said Buffy. "In my line of work, you see this stuff more often."
"I'm glad I don't have your line of work," said Supergirl. "Most of the time, that is."
"Sorry," said Buffy. "In my line of work, you see this stuff more often."
"I'm glad I don't have your line of work," said Supergirl. "Most of the time, that is."
Lisa: [as she and Bart are watching Pinnitchio] I wonder if all this violence really does desensitize us.
[A Scratchy robot bursts through the screen and collapses. Its head bursts off, and fake blood starts shooting everywhere.]
Bart: Wanna get a snowcone?
Lisa: Okay.
[A Scratchy robot bursts through the screen and collapses. Its head bursts off, and fake blood starts shooting everywhere.]
Bart: Wanna get a snowcone?
Lisa: Okay.
"One death has already been attributed to the Glow Cloud. But listen, it's probably nothing. If we had to shut down the town for every mysterious event that at least one death could be attributed to, we'd never have time to do anything, right?"
— Cecil Palmer, Welcome to Night Vale
"Steve writes, 'The sandstorm is clearly a cover-up. I believe this was a government-created project. Our government has long been participating in cloud-seeding experiments and trying to suppress the people with pharmaceuticals. I believe that this government will stop at nothing in order to-'... (Angrily) Now you listen here, Steve Carlsberg. You're not saying anything new, Steve. Of course the sandstorm was created by the government. The City Council announced that this morning. The government makes no secret that they can control the weather, and earthquakes, and monitor thoughts and activities. That's the stuff a big government is supposed to do. Obviously, you have never read the Constitution! Ok, sure, government can be very inefficient, and sometimes bloated and corrupt, but the answer is not to complain about everything they do. Without government, we would never have schools, or roads, or municipal utilities, or helpful pandemics, or black vans that roam our neighbourhoods at night keeping us safe. So please, Steve Carlsberg, I've had enough of your government-bashing."
— Cecil Palmer, Welcome to Night Vale
Delivery Guy: AHHHHHHH! Why would you show this to me?! Oh, I'm too high to see this! There's blood on the fish! On the fish!
[cut to Delivery Guy breathing into a bag]
Jake: [sighs] I always forget how weirdly numb to horrific things we are. You think it affects our souls and the relationships we build with others?
Rosa: For sure.
Jake: Huh.
[cut to Delivery Guy breathing into a bag]
Jake: [sighs] I always forget how weirdly numb to horrific things we are. You think it affects our souls and the relationships we build with others?
Rosa: For sure.
Jake: Huh.
Eclipsa: So, what do you say Moon? You want to get in a quick game of pool?
Moon: How can you even think about that at a time like this?!
Eclipsa: My whole entire life has been a 'time like this', Moon. You learn to enjoy these moments.
Moon: How can you even think about that at a time like this?!
Eclipsa: My whole entire life has been a 'time like this', Moon. You learn to enjoy these moments.
It was one week into the show business before the girl knew anything more than flickering lights, body aches and pleasures, and the hand that led her home; two weeks before she began to string coherent sentences together beyond her script, moans, and the occasional murmuring of some other person's name; three weeks before she noticed the difference in texture between the people filming her and the people filming with her; four weeks before she realized that was a problem; and five weeks before she understood that she was a Toon, created simply for entertainment, and had no choice in the matter.
Unoki: If you don't mind, I can lend you [my umbrella] after school. I'm already used to getting it stolen, so don't worry about me.
Matsuri: You're used to too many depressing things!!
Matsuri: You're used to too many depressing things!!
"Is one healthy if they are adjusted to a sick society?"
— Vicar Max, The Outer Worlds
"Jeez, she's like a beaten wife that just found out not everyone beats their wives!"
— Josh Scorcher on Sugar Belle in My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
"Hey," I begin, nodding up at the sky. "What's that red thing?"
He takes another swallow of water from his bottle, following my gaze. Then he makes a sad face. "Souls," he answers quietly. "Human souls. They... uh, came spraying out of Rei's neck during Instrumentality."
I nod silently. It seems like this should shock or horrify me, but now that just kind of seems... par for the course.
He takes another swallow of water from his bottle, following my gaze. Then he makes a sad face. "Souls," he answers quietly. "Human souls. They... uh, came spraying out of Rei's neck during Instrumentality."
I nod silently. It seems like this should shock or horrify me, but now that just kind of seems... par for the course.
"All assassins are fucked up somehow, or we wouldn't be in this profession. Nothing surprises me anymore."
— Travis Touchdown, No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle
"This boy was brought up in a time of blood and dying and never questioned a bit of it."
— Josey Wales, The Outlaw Josey Wales
The Forever People is easily my least favorite of the Fourth World books, but this one, one of Darkseid's earliest appearances, hits perfectly. It takes a pretty standard comic book cliché, the amusement park rigged up with deathtraps — which, admittedly, I love every single time it shows up — and twists it a step further into something that's genuinely creepy. For Darkseid, his park isn't abandoned or hidden, it's a thriving business that's full of customers who stream in to watch the people suffering. Darkseid masks their screams of terror and pain behind the flimsiest illusions of happiness, but in one of the most important and terrifying segments in superhero comics, he lets the children see exactly what's happening.
Why? Because he knows that the adults (and their "cock and bull" stories) will teach the children to ignore the suffering around them, filtering out the needs of others to focus on themselves. They'll grow up isolated and alone, not even realizing that they can choose a better way, secure in the knowledge that they can walk right past the horrors of the world and never stop to help — the exact opposite of the inspiration that they're meant to draw from Superman.
Why? Because he knows that the adults (and their "cock and bull" stories) will teach the children to ignore the suffering around them, filtering out the needs of others to focus on themselves. They'll grow up isolated and alone, not even realizing that they can choose a better way, secure in the knowledge that they can walk right past the horrors of the world and never stop to help — the exact opposite of the inspiration that they're meant to draw from Superman.
— Chris Sims, "Darkseid Is"
He was enraged at the outcome, yes, but he had seen that there was a limit to the imagination of atrocity. Kyril was not surprised about it at all. Yharnam had taught him the meaning of horror, and whatever fear he had felt that night was already long since gone.
I had just got myself pretty comfortable when a bomb burst over me and completely deafened me. I felt a blow on my right shoulder and my jacket was covered with white stuff. I felt mechanically whether I still had my arm and thank God it was still whole. At the same time I felt something damp on my face; I wiped it off. It was bloody. Now I first saw that the man next to me, Kessler, lacked the upper part of his head, and almost all his brains had gone into the face of the man next to him, Merkel, so that he could scarcely see. Since any moment the same could happen to anyone, no one thought much about it.
— Christoph Niederer describing the Battle of Antietam
"I've been eaten eight times, Sprig. Eight. Times. I sort of look forward to it now."
— Polly Plantar, Amphibia, "Night Drivers"
He seemed a sullen, patient child; hardened, perhaps, to ill-treatment: he would stand Hindley's blows without winking or shedding a tear, and my pinches moved him only to draw in a breath and open his eyes as if he had hurt himself by accident and nobody was to blame.
"You know what I've noticed? Nobody panics when things go 'according to plan'. Even if the plan is horrifying! If, tomorrow, I tell the press that, like, a gangbanger will get shot, or a truckload of soldiers will be blown up, nobody panics, because it's all 'part of the plan'. But when I say that one little old mayor will die... well, then everyone loses their minds!"
— The Joker, The Dark Knight
Douryou breathes a huge sigh of relief when I put the petri dish back into my bag. Her reaction is totally normal. Hiroo/Mashita and I have just become so desensitized to these sorts of creepy things that we forget how normal people view them.
—Kazuo Yashiki, Spirit Hunter: Death Mark II
