Super Fun Happy Thing of Doom: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|''The Ministry of Love was the really frightening one. There were no windows in it at all. Winston had never been inside the Ministry of Love, nor within half a kilometer of it. It was a place impossible to enter except on official business, and then only by penetrating through a maze of barbed-wire entanglements, steel doors, and hidden machine-gun nests. Even the streets leading up to its outer barriers were roamed by gorilla-faced guards in black uniforms, armed with jointed truncheons.''|''[[Nineteen Eighty Four]]''}}

Something, often a company, that is described with an adjective in the title that is entirely at odds with what it actually does. Commonly, something evil will be paired with a nice-sounding adjective. This also applies when the title's implications are opposed to what the company/organization/EvilOverlord does. Basically, when you apply a completely inappropriate adjective to something ([[Villain Withwith Good Publicity|often to make it seem better)]], that's this trope. Look for characters exclaiming "Hey...this isn't happy!" or something similar.

=== '''Compare with: ==='''

* [[PeoplesPeople's Republic of Tyranny]]: this trope as applied to a country or government.

* [[Non -Indicative Name]]: for broader cases of name not matching reality.

* [[Fluffy the Terrible]]: also a trope where something fearsome has a harmless name; generally, though, [[Fluffy the Terrible]] tends to be silly or goofy, while [['''Super Fun Happy Thing of Doom]]''' tends to be a lot darker.

* [[Happy Fun Ball]]: a trope where something's ''appearance'' doesn't match its function.

* [[The Not -So -Harmless Punishment]]

=== '''Contrast with: ==='''

* [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin]]

* [[Villain Withwith Good Publicity]]: Most likely why the "evil" corporation wanted to achieve with the name.

{{examples|Examples}}

* The bad guys of ''[[Twentieth20th Century Boys]]'' are the "Friendship Democratic Party". They're a front for an evil [[Big Bad|cult]].

* This has to be the only reason [[Kirby|King Dedede]] ordered monsters from ''Holy'' Nightmare in [[Kirby: ofRight theBack Starsat Ya!]] (the dub doesn't have this, of course...making Dedede look like more of an idiot in the process, if it was possible). Doesn't help that a few of the soon-to-be gigantic enemies ''are'' [[Ridiculously Cute Critter|pretty cute]] [[Killer Rabbit|at first]].

== Film[[Live-Action TV]] ==

* In season two of ''[[Babylon Five|Babylon 5]]'', Earth's government actually creates a Ministry of Peace (or [[Double -Speak|minipax]] [[Shout -Out|as they like to call it]]). The results are predictable.

* The most famous of these is from Orwell's ''~1984~[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]''. The government has four chief buildings: The Ministry of Truth, in charge of propaganda, the Ministry of Peace, in charge of the military, the Ministry of Plenty, in charge of rationing supplies, and the Ministry of Love, described in the page quote.

** And don't forget the 5th one, the Ministry of Ironic Naming.

* Mocked in ''[[America the(The Book)]]'' by [[Jon Stewart]], which contained a chart demonstrating how as the Congo's "Inherent Lies in Name" had increased, so had its oppression level.

{{quote| Sub-saharan Africa's largest nation has grown more oppressive over the decades, and its names has kept pace."<br />

Congo. Lies in name; 0. Oppression level; bloody.<br />

Republic of the Congo. Lies in name; 1. Oppression level; sadistic.<br />

Democratic Republic of the Congo. Lies in name; 2. Oppression level; genocidal.<br />

People's Democratic Republic of the Congo. Lies in name; 3. Oppression level; inhuman.<br />

* In the [[Strugatsky Brothers]]' novel ''[[Hard to Be A God (Literature)|Hard to Be A God]]'', a lot a villages were renamed from their [[Wretched Hive]] names to this trope. Perhaps in hopes it will make them better.

* ''[[Animorphs (Literature)|Animorphs]]'' gives us The Sharing, an organization full of nice, friendly people who do charity work and have a great time doing it. And after you are initiated, a parasitic alien crawls into your ear and you are a slave to the invading alien race.

* ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia]]'': [[Town Withwith a Dark Secret|Harfang]] is said to be the home of the only "[[Gentle Giant|Gentle Giants]]s" of the far north. [[To Serve Man|Don't believe it]] [[I'm a Humanitarian|for one second]].

* "Super Duper {{spoiler|Meteor}}" from [[Lemon Demon (Music)|Lemon Demon]]'s ''Dinosaurchestra''.

* Raven has invented his own variation on the hardcore match he's dubbed the "[[A Clockwork Orange (Literaturenovel)|Clockwork Orange]] House of Fun", which he's challenged several opponents to in [[Ring of Honor]] and [[TNA]].

* ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' spell "Nybor's Joyful Voyage". That Nybor also devised whole ''line'' of [[Agony Beam]] spells can be counted as a subtle hint. It [[Tele Frag|unsafely teleports]] one victim to random place 1-1001–100 miles away from the point of origin (including straight up and down).

{{quote| The "joyful" nature of Nybor's voyage refers to the joy of the spell's caster rather than that of its target.}}

** TheThose [[Agony Beam]] spells also fall into this trope. "Gentle reminder," which inflicts intense pain, "mild admonishment," which causes prolonged torture, and "stern reproof,", which is so painful it can kill its target. By the time you get to "wrathful castigation", it's time to be afraid.

* ''[[Paranoia (game)|Paranoia]]'': The Computer]] states unequivocally that nothing in ''[[Paranoia]]''Alpha Complex falls under this trope and claiming otherwise is treason. Information about this trope is classified Ultraviolet and access without proper clearance is treason. Traitors will please report to the nearest Funtyme Spa and Reeducation Center. The Computer is your friend, trust The Computer.

* In ''[[Adeptus Evangelion]]'', the weapons company HELIOS manufactures a MASER pistol for Evangelion use. The design puts massive strain on the weapon's internal battery, occasionally causing what HELIOS advertises as a "bonus energy release". {{spoiler|It explodes.}}

* ''[[Fable]] II'' features a mission to become Super Best Friends with Chesty the treasure chest, who has [[Nightmare Fuel StationattendantStation Attendant|a rather twisted idea of what constitutes "fun"]].

* In the pre-console days, [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|Evil Otto]] of Berzerk! was a bouncing, smiley "have a nice day" face which was trying to kill you. So great is Evil Otto's urge to destroy the Humanoid that he will literally steamroll over his allies just to get a shot at you - grinning all the while. His hatred was so great that he'd go through the electric death walls to get to you, curse his bright smiliness.

* ''[[Mother 3 (Video Game)|Mother 3]]'' features the following sign:

{{quote| "Tower of Love and Peace. Stay away!" {{spoiler|sign for the Tower of Thunder, which zaps people's houses if they don't obey Porky}}}}

** ''[[Fan Nickname|Dorf]] Fortress'' fandom in general uses the word "fun" to mean "losing," based on the official motto "Losing is Fun!" (i.e. "Forgetting to put in something to keep your well from overflowing can lead to a lot of fun.") Heck, the wiki's [https://web.archive.org/web/20120117115518/http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/Fun article on Fun] redirects to "Losing."

* From [[Final Fantasy VII]], we have [[Mega Corp|Shinra Inc's]] Public Safety Maintenance Department, just fancy euphemism for the company's [[Evil Army|army]] and police force. Said department has a sub-branch known as The Investigative Division of General Affairs Department AKA [[Quirky Miniboss Squad|the Turks]], highly skilled special agents that perform black ops on behalf of the corporation, including kidnappings and assassinations.

{{quote| What the HELL is up with these candy companies? Little teeny bars are called 'Fun Size'.. Damn, Whats so fun about a smaller candybar?!? }}

{{quote| '''Ball:''' Clung! Clung!<br />

'''Agatha:''' Why do I even ''have'' one of those?<br />

'''Tiktoffen:''' Huh. I ''wondered'' where that went on Tuesdays.<br />

* ''[[Sinfest (Webcomic)|Sinfest]]'' has [httphttps://wwwweb.archive.org/web/20140209160227/http://sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=2113 National Perfection Agency], [httphttps://wwwweb.archive.org/web/20140209165939/http://sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=2150 Beelze-Bud] and [httphttps://wwwweb.archive.org/web/20140209165752/http://sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=3506 Illumi-nicey (the New Illuminati Logo)].

{{quote| '''Farnsworth:''' Teddy Bear Junction: [[Wretched Hive|The worst scum hole in the galaxy.]]}}

* [[The Simpsons (animation)|"Ooh! Super fun happy slide!"]] [[Schmuck Bait|(which just happens to lead into a pit full of vampires)]]

{{quote| Quinn: "Happy Fun-Time"? Who the hell named this island?<br />

* Many [[PeoplesPeople's Republic of Tyranny|totalitarian regimes]] use this sort of technique as a form of propaganda. See [[Maximum Fun Chamber]], [[PeoplesPeople's Republic of Tyranny]].

* It's very common, at least in the U.S.A. and its member states, for legislation to be given names that are either unrelated to the legislation in question or, often, actually in contradiction to what the legislation does, purely for propaganda uses. This is especially common if the act in question is written by or for powerful business interests. Examples include things like "The Clean Water Act" or "The Job Creation Act" or "The [[Fun Withwith Acronyms|USA PATRIOT Act]]". After all...who would want to vote against something called "The Clean Skies and Fair Treatment for Innocent Victims Act" or the "Protecting Children from Internet Pornographers Act"?

* In the UK, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) decides whether or not a drug should be provided by the NHS -- soNHS—so NICE can be responsible for denying life-prolonging treatments for reasons of expense...although sometimes they do this to avoid having to shut down care in areas that affect more people, so [[Your Mileage May Vary]], lets [[Rule of Cautious Editing Judgement|leave it there.]]

{{quote| ...[http://www.boingboing.net/2011/01/27/piratebox-anonymous-1.html#comment-1008662 it should probably be called a "Togetherness Unicorn Pony Box" and be painted pink and blue to soothe the billy club bunch and avoid unfortunate incidents].}}

[[Category:DoomyDoomed Dooms of DoomTropes]]

[[Category:Subverted Innocence Tropes]]