Creepy Awesome

We're gonna play fetch. Wanna be my frisbee?


A character who, despite or precisely because of being Nightmare Fuel is also greatly loved by a series' fandom. This can have a variety of reasons. Maybe the character is simply the biggest Badass in the show, or maybe s/he also has a cute, funny or tragic side in addition to his or her creepy side that endears the character to the fans. The character in question need not be a villain, though a majority of characters this trope applies to are villains or at least antagonists of some sort. This sometimes results in Misaimed Fandom and Draco in Leather Pants.

Note that while these characters ore often Nightmare Fuel incarnate, their appeal to non-Nightmare Fetishists is often due to being more appealing (e.g., Magnificent Bastard, The Woobie, etc.) than creepy (e.g., Complete Monster, etc.).

May or may not overlap with Creepy Good.

Examples of Creepy Awesome include:

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Anime & Manga

  • Black Lagoon:
    • Hansel and Gretel: Despite being deranged killers, they are also loved by a good portion of this series' fandom who sympathize with them because of their seriously messed-up childhood. The fact that they can also be quite cute also helps.
    • Sawyer the cleaner might also count. A young woman who needs a electrovoice after having her voice box cut out and works as one-woman Cleanup Crew, using her trusty chainsaw to make unwanted bodies easier to hide by cutting them into pieces ...bodies who aren't necessarily dead when they are brought to her. She also has worked as a hired gun a few times, proving quite adept at using her chainsaw in close combat.
      • She is just plain scary up to the point where she loses her voice-gadget, gets upset about it, and shifts from monster to moé in a matter of seconds.
  • Bleach: Mayuri. Sort of.
    • For all his high talk, Ulquiorra wants to be appreciated as such (and maybe even as a Magnificent Bastard, with his Nietzsche Wannabe Breaking Lecture attempts), transforming specifically to creep Ichigo out in a hopefully awesome way. He's actually surprised Ichigo doesn't buy it (while not buying a lot of other shit he spills).
    • And let's not forget Hollow Ichigo V2 "Ressurection". Devil horns? Devil look? Still awesome, even in previous versions.
    • And least during the Rescue Rukia/Soul Society arc, Kenpachi could certainly be classified as this. He kinda moved out of this category after becoming one of the good guys and instead was simply classified as Crazy Awesome instead.
  • Hellsing's protagonist Alucard, due to being a serious Badass, among other things. Also, Jan Valentine.
  • Excel Saga: Possibly Little Miss Badass Cosette Sara, who initially appears to be an Enfant Terrible, but is something of a Jerkass Woobie who is older than she looks, and must hide her Gag Boobs.
  • Axis Powers Hetalia: Russia, full stop.
    • His sister Belarus even more so. Even Russia is terrified of her.
  • Azumanga Daioh: Possibly Mr. Kimura
    • Definitely Chiyo-chichi
    • Osaka certainly qualifies, if only for the infamous Knife Incident.
  • Neon Genesis Evangelion: ZOMFG TEH REI!
  • Death Note: Beyond Birthday is a creepy murderer, yet is loved by fangirls.
    • Some fans also would consider both Misa and Light Creepy Awesome.
    • And then there's Ryuk, everybody's favorite apple-loving shinigami.
    • L counts too, in a male version of teh Rei sort of way.
    • Teru Mikami, as well.
  • The Millennium Earl and his Noah Famliy in D Gray Man. Variously sexy, cool, and Affably Evil? Yes. Scary? Hell yes.
  • Franken Fran. She does terrifying things, and is absolutely certain of being in the right. She's also cute, when her eyeballs aren't falling off...
  • Johan Liebert of Monster.
  • Legato Bluesummers from Trigun.
  • Lucy and Mariko of Elfen Lied.
  • Yuno Gasai of Mirai Nikki.
  • Lain of Serial Experiments Lain.
  • Pretty much everyone in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni fall into this at times.
  • Kotonoha Katsura of School Days.
  • Many a character from Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei. Kafuka, Matoi, and Chiri seem to be the most popular in this regard.
  • Tsukuyomi of Mahou Sensei Negima. Creepy as all hell, badass, strangely endearing and also a fan favorite.
  • Black Butler has Grell, Undertaker, and, in the second season of the anime, Alois.
  • Hitagi Senjougahara from Bakemonogatari.
  • Sakurako from Psyren. More to the point, the creepy part starts to show itself when her Super-Powered Evil Side is revealed and she's pretty much always awesome in battle.
  • The Count of Gankutsuou.
  • Narutos: Zetsu, Sasori, Deidara, Hidan, Kabuto, Kisame, Orochimaru, Itachi (at times)...
    • The tailed beasts from Naruto, especially the nine-tailed demon fox, Kurama. More apparent by making him and the others monstrous JerkassWoobies.
  • Freeza, Cell and Majin Buu of Dragonball Z.
  • The Toguro Brothers, Karasu, and Shinobu Sensui of Yu Yu Hakusho.
  • Izaya of Durarara!!.
  • Mukuro of Katekyo Hitman Reborn. As is his First Generation predeccesor Daemon Spade.
  • Ichijo of Pani Poni Dash!, who is also Crazy Awesome.
  • Envy of Fullmetal Alchemist.
    • Don't forget Kimbley. And Pride/Selim.
  • The Groke in the second Anime adaptation of The Moomins.
  • Kuroudo Akabane of GetBackers.
  • Captain Kuro of One Piece.
  • Kyuubey from Puella Magi Madoka Magica is an odd example, he looks absolutely adorable but is a creepy amoral hivemind that steals young girls souls and the fans love him for it. For a very loose definition of love.
  • Vincent Volaju of Cowboy Bebop.
  • Soul Eater: Stein.
    • There's also Crona, the woobie who has a bully living in their spine. The adorable woobie who has a bully living in their spine.
  • The D-Reaper from Digimon Tamers. The creepy part is self-explanitory, the awesome part is the fact that this enemy came the closest to it's goals and it's likely the most powerful ...thing in the Digimon franchise.
  • Paptimus Scirocco of Zeta Gundam is a sexual predator and mind rapist with a penchant for seducing young girls and playing head games. Yet despite this—or perhaps because of it—he remains one of the most popular and well-liked villains in the franchise.


Comics


Fan Works


Film

"This is my town now..."

  • From the Saw series: Jigsaw/John Kramer, Amanda Young and Mark Hoffman.


Literature


Live Action TV

Interviewer: You were creepy in that show, dude!
Rami: (good-naturedly) I think I'm creepy in everything.


Music

  • Radiohead's "Climbing Up The Walls". A song written from the perspective of something living in the mind of a Serial Killer, sung in a slurred, eerily distorted voice over heavy guitars, dissonant strings and creepy, abrasive electronics. It's also a fan favorite.
  • Most of the Industrial genre, in particular the abrasive early acts like Throbbing Gristle and SPK.
  • Dark Ambient music, especially the subgenre known as Isolationism.


Professional Wrestling

  • World Wrestling Entertainment: "The Boogeyman." He was originally supposed to be a Heel, but he became so popular with the fans that WWE had no choice but to turn him Face.
  • World Wrestling Entertainment: The Undertaker practically runs on creepy awesome, and, even if one says that that is no longer the case, it definitely was in the early to late 90's.
    • Kane perpetually sits here, whether he's a face or a heel, masked or unmasked. He's worked every creepy aspect imaginable with his character, and nearly every one of them he's worked to perfection.


Tabletop Games

  • In addition to Rule of Cool and Crazy Awesome, this is part of the appeal of Warhammer 40,000.
    • To give a specific example, consider the Obliterator virus. At first, it just heightens weapon proficiency. However, as it runs its course, the infected gains the ability to spontaneously generate ammo, absorb weapons into his body and recall them, and eventually even create new limbs and organs. Of course, this all comes at the cost of losing one's sanity and humanity.
  • Magic: The Gathering: Phyrexia and New Phyrexia. The most dangerous yet enjoyable Big Bad in the game's story? Check. Mechanical Lifeforms? Check. Loads of Nightmare Fuel? Check. The bigger part of the fandom prefers them to the heroes? Checkmate.


Video Games

  • BioShock (series) as a whole. Sander Cohen. Dr. Steinman. The Splicers. Big Daddies.
  • System Shock: SHODAN wo-wo-would likekeke to be m-m-mentioned, insect.
  • Vulpes Inculta and Legate Lanius of Fallout: New Vegas. Both with excellent dialogue and copious amounts of sexy voices.
  • Silent Hill: Pyramid Head.
  • Kefka from Final Fantasy VI. Based on his actions, he should be a Complete Monster, but he's one of the most popular characters in the whole series.
  • While on the subject of that series, Sephiroth.
  • Jester from Devil May Cry.
  • Giygas of EarthBound.
  • Alma, the oddly, creepily adorable little girl who boils peoples' flesh off, destroys buildings, and rapes the protagonist.
  • Sovereign from Mass Effect. One conversation with him is one of the most memorable parts of the game.
  • GLaDOS from Portal. Her somewhat off personality is what makes Portal the memorable experience it is, complete with Memetic Mutation.
  • .hack's Skeith. That One Boss, Name To Run Away From Really Fast, Grim Reaper motif, creepy theme music, fan favorite. Azure Kite is also more than a little creepy, being essentially a zombified version of the first game's protagonist that is practically invincible and attacks people with no apparent provocation. The fact that he tends to be a major badass about it probably helps.
    • Skeith was so popular in fact, that he was essentially made playable in the sequel. The same could be said for Haseo, who was the resident Psycho for Hire in SIGN with some Amnesiac Dissonance.
  • Ridley of Metroid. Even the one person who seems a legitimate threat to him, the greatest bounty hunter in the galaxy, who takes on entire planets full of parasitic horrors, is terrified of him. And he's a dragon, which automatically makes him cool.
  • Albedo, the crazy, regenerating, Evil Albino from Xenosaga. If you didn't get into the series because of KOS-MOS, chances are you got into it because of him.
  • Creepers, the horrible kamikaze shrubs from Minecraft, are quite popular with the fanbase precisely because they're paranoia-inducing abominations.
  • Ghirahim in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. He comes off as incredibly frightening despite, or maybe even because of his campy lines.
  • Irisu / "Alice", the heroine of Irisu Syndrome. Certainly doesn't come across as such at first glance (and given she's the protagonist, this is a rather big plot point): She appears to be a meek, quiet girl with a thing for bunnies and who likes cosplaying as a witch / maid. In reality, that's exactly right... except when she was very young someone killed her pet rabbit, leaving it's decapitated head for her to find topping the pile of gore, which broke something inside her, mentally and spiritually. She's now a drug addicted serial killer who thinks nothing of murdering a group of people so the boy she's stalking will have time to pursue his own psychosis. And, oh, how the fandom loves her for it.
  • The Forsaken.
  • Alice in Shin Megami Tensei is a small, innocent girl in a blue dress who will happily scamper around highly dangerous locales in search for a friend. She's actually an undead Humanoid Abomination gifted with enough raw magical power to murder everything and everyone, and an astounding lack of understanding on exactly why it's not commonly appreciated to torture, kill and eat your friends. Her weapon of choice? The corrupt armies of Wonderland.
  • Relius Clover of BlazBlue.
  • A fair number of the Daedric Lords from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, especially Boethiah and Hermaeus Mora. Boethiah sounds like a combination of a crotchety old lady and the general of the army of Hell itself, and has a perpetually-dark shrine high on the side of a mountain which is filled with anarcho-nihilist cultists, huge bonfires, burned corpses, ancient architecture, random blood splatters, and one badass statue. Mora appears (as a swirling void of purple and black) to you in a hollowed-out iceberg where a lunatic's made his home, and names you his champion in an Affably Evil voice before explaining that he is the lord of all knowledge and discovery. And the artifact he gives you is widely considered to be one of the best in the game.
    • Cicero also qualifies. He's obsessed with his "Mother" (actually the Night Mother, the dead/undead? leader of the Dark Brotherhood), is not above casual murder as per his membership in the Dark Brotherhood, dresses, talks, and dances like an unhinged jester, and is a fan favorite specifically because of that.


Web Original


Webcomics

  • Zimmy of Gunnerkrigg Court looks like a Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl, has creepy eyes, no manners, has been called a demon by other supernatural antagonists, creates microscopic abominations, and can send you to a terrify place that can Mind Rape you and steal your soul. Fortunately her best friend and Power Nullifier Gamma has helped stave off an evil breakdown ...so far.
  • Terezi Pyrope of Homestuck, at least initially. She is probably the single largest Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant in the comic; she was practically introduced by trying to kill John and succeeding in a Bad Future, though she admitted that she was well aware it wouldn't actually work out. Then came Act 5, and with it context and character development aplenty, where it was proved that as trolls go she is probably one of the most pleasant. Even before then, she is one of the most popular characters in the fandom, though that may be more related to her more positive development.

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Chuck Goodrich: I can hear them whispering... they say I'll be okay... they're mad you thought putting on the suit would trick them...
Dr. McNinja: (In a panic) I wasn't trying to trick them! I would never try to trick a ghost!


Western Animation

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