Should the Boogeyman be made a separate trope from Things That Go "Bump" In The Night? (In which case, the original trope would refer to generic miscellaneous monsters under the bed and monsters in the closet, whereas this new trope would refer to the character of the Boogeyman himself.) Although he is sometimes synonymous with these generic monsters, sometimes, he's depicted as being a separate character entirely. Like the leader of all the monsters, like in the Powerpuff Girls episode "Boogie Frights," or at least the (supposedly) scariest monster of them all, like in the Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy episode "Bully Boogie." Hell, sometimes, he's not even in ca-hoots with any other monsters, like in The Nightmare Before Christmas (assuming Oogie Boogie really is the Boogieman like he says and not just saying it to sound menacing.) Not to mention, the Boogeyman frequently has his own unique set of related tropes that monsters don't always have. He's frequently depicted as being strongly associated with the concept of fear, sometimes even being the embodiment of it like he was as Pitch Black in Rise of the Guardians, and in these situations, he's pretty much the personifictation and archetype of fear, like what The Grim Reaper is to death. As darkness is one of the most common fears, he is also frequently Weakened by Light, in addition to only going after naughty, misbehaving children like a Karmic Trickster to Scare 'Em Straight. While these tropes can also be associated with these types of monsters in general, sometimes without the Boogeyman even being mentioned, there's still the fact that there are many more types of monsters in fiction than the 'under-your-bed' type. Sometimes, 'monster' is a generic word for 'menacing fantasy creature,' whereas the Boogeyman is a more specific character and product of fairy tales and folklore, not unlike The Old North Wind. Sometimes, the concept of "the Boogeyman" is simply used to refer to a vague malicious predator who's out to get you and will stop at nothing to do so (think your average slasher horror villain), like how Michael Myers was metaphorically described by Dr. Loomis in Halloween. In these cases, he can be used to represent a manifestation of primal fear, something created by the human mind. Or maybe he's just a mythical creature made up by parents to scare their children into behaving. Like he is in Real Life. But still, I think the Boogeyman has enough personally-associated character tropes to not only be considered his own character, but have his own separate trope. Oh yes, he's strongly associated with those old monsters in the closet, but he's still one level above them all, being the Trope Codifier. What Count Dracula is to vampires and Sherlock Holmes is to detectives, the Boogeyman is to these monsters. Perhaps one of the difficulties in defining him as his own character is that the Boogeyman doesn't really have a set appearance. We all know that the stereotypical depiction of The Grim Reaper is an animate skeleton in a black cloak who wields a scythe, and how Satan's stereotypical incarnation is a Big Red Devil. But the Boogeyman doesn't really have a set appearance. Whenever he appears and is named, he always seems to look different. Sometimes, he's a green goblin man, sometimes he's a pink fuzzy monster, and other times, he's a burlap sack full of bugs. But arguably, that makes him more effective as - if he is supposed to represent fear - than giving him a constant appearance would diminish his scariness due to Nothing is Scarier leaving more to the imagination. All in all, I think there's both enough appearances of the Boogeyman as his own character, and enough appearances of monsters inside the closet/under your bed without him, in fiction, for them to both be their own separate tropes. If we were to make the Boogeyman his own individual trope, I think the best name for it would simply be "The Boogeyman." So what do you say? Should we? Or should we not?
Should the Boogeyman be made a separate trope from Things That Go "Bump" In The Night? (In which case, the original trope would refer to generic miscellaneous monsters under the bed and monsters in the closet, whereas this new trope would refer to the character of the Boogeyman himself.) Although he is sometimes synonymous with these generic monsters, sometimes, he's depicted as being a separate character entirely. Like the leader of all the monsters, like in the Powerpuff Girls episode "Boogie Frights," or at least the (supposedly) scariest monster of them all, like in the Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy episode "Bully Boogie." Hell, sometimes, he's not even in ca-hoots with any other monsters, like in The Nightmare Before Christmas (assuming Oogie Boogie really is the Boogieman like he says and not just saying it to sound menacing.) Not to mention, the Boogeyman frequently has his own unique set of related tropes that monsters don't always have. He's frequently depicted as being strongly associated with the concept of fear, sometimes even being the embodiment of it like he was as Pitch Black in Rise of the Guardians, and in these situations, he's pretty much the personifictation and archetype of fear, like what The Grim Reaper is to death. As darkness is one of the most common fears, he is also frequently Weakened by Light, in addition to only going after naughty, misbehaving children like a Karmic Trickster to Scare 'Em Straight. While these tropes can also be associated with these types of monsters in general, sometimes without the Boogeyman even being mentioned, there's still the fact that there are many more types of monsters in fiction than the 'under-your-bed' type. Sometimes, 'monster' is a generic word for 'menacing fantasy creature,' whereas the Boogeyman is a more specific character and product of fairy tales and folklore, not unlike The Old North Wind. Sometimes, the concept of "the Boogeyman" is simply used to refer to a vague malicious predator who's out to get you and will stop at nothing to do so (think your average slasher horror villain), like how Michael Myers was metaphorically described by Dr. Loomis in Halloween. In these cases, he can be used to represent a manifestation of primal fear, something created by the human mind. Or maybe he's just a mythical creature made up by parents to scare their children into behaving. Like he is in Real Life. But still, I think the Boogeyman has enough personally-associated character tropes to not only be considered his own character, but have his own separate trope. Oh yes, he's strongly associated with those old monsters in the closet, but he's still one level above them all, being the Trope Codifier. What Count Dracula is to vampires and Sherlock Holmes is to detectives, the Boogeyman is to these monsters. Perhaps one of the difficulties in defining him as his own character is that the Boogeyman doesn't really have a set appearance. We all know that the stereotypical depiction of The Grim Reaper is an animate skeleton in a black cloak who wields a scythe, and how Satan's stereotypical incarnation is a Big Red Devil. But the Boogeyman doesn't really have a set appearance. Whenever he appears and is named, he always seems to look different. Sometimes, he's a green goblin man, sometimes he's a pink fuzzy monster, and other times, he's a burlap sack full of bugs. But arguably, that makes him more effective as - if he is supposed to represent fear - than giving him a constant appearance would diminish his scariness due to Nothing is Scarier leaving more to the imagination. All in all, I think there's both enough appearances of the Boogeyman as his own character, and enough appearances of monsters inside the closet/under your bed without him, in fiction, for them to both be their own separate tropes. If we were to make the Boogeyman his own individual trope, I think the best name for it would simply be "The Boogeyman." So what do you say? Should we? Or should we not?