Where do you go to read the latest about new tropes?
What about old tropes with new names?
How can you find the best but least linked tropes out there?
Worry no more: Trope Report is here.
What about old tropes with new names?
How can you find the best but least linked tropes out there?
Worry no more: Trope Report is here.
Trope Report is a monthly newsletter that intends to showcase works and tropes from all corners of this website. It also aims to keep the troper hivemind updated with pertinent trope changes and discussions.
It's July and Trope Report's 19th issue is here.
The previous month has been slow, but one notable policy change that has happened is that the listing of gendered redirects is now restricted to Characters pages, and only when they don't disrupt alphabetical order.
Other notable changes that have happened over the course of last month are major TRS decisions that have completely overhauled well-established tropes like Blinding Bangs, The Cheerleader, Screwed by the Network, Old Shame, and Protagonist-Centered Morality. More info regarding those changes can be found in our Changelog section.
Happy troping as always!
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Tropes and Works
Trope Spotlight
Obscure Tropes
This section highlights older tropes that need a boost.- It's July, and whether you're cooking up some hot dogs for Independence Day or just having a barbecue to enjoy on a Saturday night, it's time to bust out the grill and start cooking. Be careful, though, or your grill might just explode on you. Grilling Pyrotechnics is a trope about grilling accidents taken to the extreme for the sake of comedy, but with only 32 wicks over the course of a decade, it needs help getting a good spark. Stop by and fire up some new examples if you can — just remember to avoid catching fire yourself.
- Acquaintances Alice and Bob are chatting at a party, and Alice mentions her partner, Charlie, is the world's biggest geek for out-of-print west coast pulp, and he would just go—... oh. No no no, Not That Kind of Partner. They co-founded their firm and still work closely together, but they're not dating, and they're incompatible in more ways than one, anyway... This trope concerns a professional partnership that's clarified by one or both characters to be just that. It doesn't preclude a possible romantic hookup later, and the clarification likely won't stop viewers from shipping them if they already did. For a page created in 2011, it could get a few more wicks than a measly 20.
New Tropes
This section brings attention to recently-launched tropes that could use a little help to really get rolling.- Most people know what love is and can sense if they're feeling it for someone else. Some, however, are Unknowingly in Love. It's not that they don't know what love is nor that they're incapable of feeling it; it's just they can't seem to grasp that the strange feelings they harbor towards a certain someone are actually romantic attraction! While launched on May 11, this trope tends to pop up in plenty of romantic comedies and dramas, so it definitely deserves some love itself.
Work Spotlight
New Work Page Spotlight
This section covers newer work pages that could use a little help.- Rabbit Knight is a freeware action platformer where you play as Rory, a rabbit knight trying to defend his town from evil mushrooms. While this game seems to be a standard retraux platformer at first, it has quite a few dark elements to it that emerge later in the game. Our article on the game was created on the 17th of June and has amassed a decent amount of tropes. However, none of them are crosswicked.
- It's Kirby Time is a series of Kirby-themed picture books released in the late 2010s and throughout the 2020s. Featuring gorgeous art by HYOGONOSUKE
, it focuses on the titular pink puffball and his friends as they have quirky mini-adventures. If these pique your interest, Nintendo has released some English read-alongs on their YouTube channel, which can be watched here and here.
Older/Obscure Work Spotlight
This section is intended to highlight works that may no longer be in the zeitgeist — but that doesn't mean they're any less tropable.- Possibly in Michigan is a surreal independent short film made by Cecelia Condit in 1983. It focuses on two women, Sharon and Janice, and their close relationship as they are threatened by a cannibalistic serial killer named Arthur. With odd conversations, eerie imagery, and interesting subtext and interpretations, it's a curious hidden gem of a film that can benefit from some expansion, crosswicking, and love. After all, love shouldn't cost an arm and a leg!
- Harvester is a Full Motion Video-based Adventure Game developed by DigiFX Interactive and written/directed by Gilbert P. Austin that was eventually released in 1996. You play as a young man named Steve who finds himself in a small town called Harvest. No-one buys the fact he has amnesia, saying that he was always a kidder. His mom spends her time baking cookies that go into the trash, many people are weirdos who live by 1950s values, and he keeps being pressured to join the mysterious Lodge (even if he has to do some tasks first). The only person who appears to be trustworthy is a young woman named Stephanie, who also has amnesia, with the two developing a relationship. The game has some great insights and cheesiness that make it more memorable, making it a classic that just keeps on giving (especially since its script has been released to the public).
- The Long Earth: A pentalogy of novels by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter, The Long Earth (published starting in 2012) begins with the invention of a device that allows humans to 'step' from the Earth we all know and love to a seemingly infinite number of Earths in parallel universes. The books follow Joshua Valentine, a unique individual who comes from a long line of people who can step without a device, as he explores the parallel Earths with his companion Lobsang, an artificial intelligence who professes to be the reincarnation of a Tibetan motorcycle repairman. Baxter's brisk, descriptive prose is peppered with jokes expressing Pratchett's instantly recognizable sense of humor, and the compelling mystery of what lurks in the far reaches of the Long Earth keeps the reader invested until the end. Though not as well known as Pratchett's Discworld books, The Long Earth is every bit as entertaining.
Works That Need a Page
This section takes a page from the List of Shows That Need Summary. It is intended to spotlight works that people have been talking about enough to link around the site, but don't have a page yet. If the work page link turns blue after this, then we know we've done our job!- While Larry the Cable Guy has a thriving page, some of his works don't. Two of the films starring him, Larry The Cable Guy Health Inspector and Witless Protection, don't have pages despite another film he starred in having one, which would indicate that there should be at least some tropers here with enough of an interest. He also has a travel show, Only In America With Larry The Cable Guy, which still plays on some channels despite a fairly short run of three seasons.
- Ryan Trahan is an American YouTuber known for his challenge videos and travel vlogs. Last month, he rose to notoriety by releasing a series called "I Survived On $0.01 For 30 Days", where he travels from California to North Carolina in order to deliver a penny to a certain famous YouTuber, but with that penny as his only source of profit. This series was released as part of a fundraiser for Feeding America, and absolutely crushed its goal. Donations also impacted the events of the series: if somebody donated $50,000 in one go, he would be reset back to one penny. Despite all the buzz, however, we don't have a page for him yet — so why not make one for him?
Non-English Work Spotlight
The wiki may be in English, but that doesn't mean non-English media are any less important! This section focuses on works that may have a language barrier to deal with — but are worth it if you do.- Snatcher is a Cyberpunk Visual Novel by Hideo Kojima that takes inspiration from classic films like Blade Runner and Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Taking place in Neo Kobe City, a city under the threat of Snatchers—humanoid robots who kill people and take their places—it focuses on Gillian Seed, an amnesiac and former military who joins JUNKER, a government agency tasked with destroying Snatchers, while also searching for his own past. Originally released exclusively for Japanese computers, the game received an overseas port for the Sega CD in 1994, and has acquired a steady cult following over the years.
Creator Page Spotlight
Works would be nothing without the people who make them. This section highlights authors, artists, actors, musicians, and everyone else responsible for trope creation and proliferation.- Quino was an Argentine cartoonist who was best known as the author of Mafalda, widely regarded as Argentina's greatest comic strip. His page, however, could use some cleanup to expand on ZCEs, and a lot of his works would benefit from more tropes. ¿Sería usted tan amable?
Image of the Month
This section brings you the best selections of the past month from Image Pickin.
This issue's featured image comes from Death Note, and illustrates Sweet Tooth.
This issue's featured image comes from Death Note, and illustrates Sweet Tooth.
Something that we used to be pretty lax about in the early days of the wiki that we now enforce more seriously is copyright, especially when it comes to images from websites like DeviantArt and Pixiv. Due to this, there has been a greater push lately towards changing images if we cannot obtain permission from the original artist. Thanks to this, many other tropes such as Fan Art and Desert Punk also received brand new images.
So why choose this one in particular as our Image of the Month? Because it's not only excellent at illustrating the trope, both in and out of context — the character's love of sweets representing his Manchild tendencies — but it's also really nicely drawn. Between its usage of color contrast and body language, series artist Takeshi Obata did an excellent job when creating this particular piece of promo art. What else can be said, except that this is one sweet pic?
Projects and Discussions
Forumwatch
Hey guys! Welcome back to Forumwatch! In this section, we'll be telling you about what's going on in the forums — interesting discussions that may be going on in Wiki Talk, some fun forum games, or lively debates going on in On-Topic Conversations, you name it!
- Most tropers know How to Pick a Good Image. It needs to illustrate the trope clearly, make sense to people who don't know the work it's from, and be visually appealing. But what if that wasn't the case? That's where Crappy Image Pickin', a recent addition to Forum Games, comes in. Here, you can suggest the worst images possible for tropes. No one will care if they're JAFAAC, in-jokes, image macro memes, or anything similar — but put in an actual good image and expect to get downvoted.
- DALL-E is an image generating program that creates images from text input. The DALL-E Game is a recently made forum game revolving around the program. One troper selects an avatar from their gallery, and another troper after them makes a post about an action for the above avatar. Finally, a third troper types the above two posts into the input of the program and selects one generated image to share in a post, and in the same post, takes the role of the first troper for a new image. The results can sometimes match up to what was typed, sometimes not, but it does make for a fun game.
- There has recently been debate about some of our tropes about animals Played for Laughs, such as Quacking Up, Clucking Funny, Silly Simian, and Everythings Better With Penguins. These items have had their tropeworthiness questioned, along with whether or not we should break these tropes up into tropes about the specific ways animals are portrayed the way they are, rather than them simply being "animals + funny". The thread in Trope Talk debating this still has not been resolved. If you'd like to offer your thoughts, head on over to the thread!
Trope/Article Changelog
This section covers renames, removals, redefinitions, hard-splits, merges, and wick cleaning. We'll try to keep you alerted to any major changes to the site, including perpetual projects and Wiki Talk decisions that you may have missed, but if you want to be a part of the process that affects so much of our wiki, then head over to the Trope Repair Shop on the left-hand side of the forum.
- A Show has been cut and relevant parts of its description moved to B Show. This is due to a lack of wicks. TRS thread here.
- Angry Black Man is having its description rewritten to emphasize the stereotype the trope is associated with more. It is also being renamed "Angry Black Man" Stereotype. TRS thread here.
- Bald Black Leader Guy has been merged into Bald of Authority due to duplication with the latter, newer trope. TRS thread here.
- Bandage Babe has been disambiguated due to being misused for "any character with a bandage". TRS thread here.
- Blinding Bangs has been disambiguated due to attracting ZCEs and examples without narrative significance. TRS thread here.
- Some of the Camera Tricks have been changed due to a lack of wicks. Some were made Definition-Only, some were merged into folders on the Camera Tricks page, and Visual Novel Shot was merged with P.O.V. Cam. Full details in the TRS thread here.
- The Cheerleader has been disambiguated, with the original usage being moved to Cruel Cheerleader. This is due to the unclear name leading to "cheerleaders exist" type entries. TRS thread here.
- Corrupt Hick has been renamed Smalltown Tyrant due to an unclear name leading to misuse for any villainous hick. TRS thread here.
- Cut And Paste Translation has been renamed to Dub-Induced Plotline Change due to misuse and complaining issues. TRS thread here.
- Friendship Writing Fumble has been renamed Platonic Writing, Romantic Reading due to concerns over a non-indicative name. TRS thread here.
- The Hard Hat is being split into several new tropes covering its ideas due to the page covering multiple concepts in one trope, along with a misleading name and a lack of wicks. TRS thread here.
- Its Raining Salesmen has been sent to the Trope Idea Salvage Yard due to a lack of wicks. TRS thread here.
- Magical Native American has been expanded to cover other groups of indigenous people outside of the United States. This is due to misuse for what it was expanded into. TRS thread here.
- Memetic Badass now disallows In-Universe examples, which are being moved to other, more fitting tropes. This is due to a large number of these examples on a concept that was deemed not to need them. TRS thread here.
- Names To Know In Anime has been moved to SugarWiki.Names To Know In Anime due to being too subjective to be an index. TRS thread here.
- Nerd has been redirected to Indexed and Nerdy, with Nerd Stereotype being split off into its own trope. This is due to misuse for any character with nerdy characteristics or interests, even if they don't fit the stereotype. TRS thread here.
- Not Important To This Episode Camp has been disambiguated due to an overly broad name leading to misuse for any time a character isn't in an episode, along with being used in place of other tropes that cover similar concepts such as Put on a Bus and Written-In Absence. TRS thread here.
- Old Shame and Creator Backlash are being merged under the latter's name. The former's name will be reused for an In-Universe trope about a creator wanting an audience to forget about something they did in the past. This is due to substantial overlap between the two, with Old Shame also being too vague in definition. Old Shame was also being misused for works creators are merely ashamed of, rather than actively wanting the audience to forget about. TRS thread here.
- Pay Phone has been redirected to the disambiguation page for Phone Booth, with the original page being moved to UsefulNotes.Pay Phone. This is due to concerns that the trope is just "pay phones exist" with no narrative significance. TRS thread here.
- Protagonist-Centered Morality now requires that examples show a Double Standard between the protagonist being treated sympathetically for actions other characters are called out for. This is due to a large amount of unintentional, subjective, and complaining usage. TRS thread here.
- Realistic Humans, Cartoony Animals has been expanded to cover examples featuring cartoony humans and realistic animals. It is also being renamed. This is due to a large number of "cartoony humans, realistic animals" examples, along with a lack of wicks. TRS thread here.
- Royal Bastard's description has been clarified to specify that the trope encompasses "all inherited authority/status positions", per the crowner. This is due to confusion over the trope having broader examples than the description seemed to imply. TRS thread here.
- Sempai/Kōhai has been renamed Senpai/Kōhai to match the spelling used most commonly elsewhere. TRS thread here.
- Screwed by the Network has been redefined from "Network intentionally sabotages the work" to "Network made a bad business decision regardless of intent that resulted in low returns, thus cancellation" because of complaining and misuse concerns. TRS thread here.
- They Wasted A Perfectly Good Line Art has been cut due to a lack of wicks, along with the definition inherently inviting complaining. TRS thread here.
- Tier Induced Scrappy is being split into two tropes, one about high-tier character scrappies with the name High-Tier Scrappy, and one about low-tier character scrappies with the name Low-Tier Letdown. This is due to misuse and issues with the way the article was split. TRS thread here.
- Was Actually Friendly has been merged with and redirected to Not Always Evil, with wicks being moved to both that trope and Good All Along. This is due to duplication concerns with the two. TRS thread here.
- You Can Panic Now has been renamed Media Scaremongering due to an overly vague name leading to misuse. TRS thread here.
Pages Needing Help
This section highlights articles indexed on the Pages Needing Wiki Magic policy page and sub-pages. Such articles are, at best, under-performing and below wiki standards. At worst, these pages are in violation of the wiki's rules against stubs. If you're an editor, try checking out some of these under-performing trope and work articles to see what improvements you can make to the page.
- July's birthday is Paulette Bourgeois, who is the author of the award-winning children's book series Franklin. While our page on Bourgeois has a detailed description and image, it's lacking a list of her other works and a trope list.
- Date AST Like is a manga spinoff of the Date A Live franchise. Our page on the work was made a couple of years ago but still lacks a description, an image, and crosswicked tropes.
- The trope Lying In The Dirt Together has been on the wiki since 2010 but only has 16 wicks and a lot of the on-page examples don't have enough context.
Project Spotlight
Looking for a project to dedicate some time to, but not comfortable jumping into large threads? Here are some smaller projects, or more recent discussions, in need of a few more hands.
- We all know that the Trope Repair Shop can be used to change trope definitions, but what if it's just the description that's bad? The Trope Description Improvement Drive revises struggling trope descriptions to make them easier to understand.
- Around 2 years ago, Ultimate Evil was renamed Unseen Evil in a TRS thread. However, the wick cleanup was not finished when the thread was closed. If you'd like to help clean up the remaining wicks, come on over to the thread!
- Character Alignment and its subtropes are Flame Bait, and should not be wicked onto pages unless they are canonical, in that Character Alignments exist or are explicitly brought up within the work, or a character is canonically one of these alignments within the work or by Word of God or Saint Paul. However, some wicks that fail to meet the criteria, including random potholes, seem to slip through. The Character Alignment Tropes wick cleaning thread is currently removing such wicks and potholes. If you feel interested in such, feel free to join them.
- The Ace Attorney character sheets are currently grouped based on their professions, which has caused some organizational problems. If you want to help re-arrange the character sheets, please come to the Re-arranging Ace Attorney Characters Page thread!
Know the Contributors
- crazysamaritan writes for the Pages Needing Help section, keeping an eye out for stubs and crosswicking.
- FernandoLemon writes for Work Spotlight and Image of the Month. He wants to thank Kappaclystica for her work as the previous curator for Image of the Month.
- War Jay 77 contributed to the Trope Spotlight, Forumwatch, and Project Spotlight sections this month. She is also the Herald of Projects: Long Term/Perpetual, and spends much of her time refreshing on the forums, ATT and TLP for new things to respond to.
- gjjones writes for the Project Spotlight section. He also frequently spends his time working on projects whenever they are necessary, cleaning up wiki entries and participating in the ATT and Trope Repair Shop threads.
- 𝕋𝕒𝕓𝕤 writes for the Obscure Trope Spotlight and Changelog sections.
- plakythebirb is a not-so-bald eagle that usually writes for Works That Need a Page.
- Excessive-Menace writes for the New Tropes and Older/Obscure Works Spotlight sections. They mainly spend their time lurking and editing the wiki, as well as participating in ATT and writing for the Trope Pantheons project. He's wishing that the skies will be clear in time for the Cowherd's and the Weaver Girl's annual reunion and her birthday.
- The Mayor of Simpleton wrote for the Changelog, Projects Spotlight, and Forumwatch this edition. He mostly participates in the Project Threads, TRS, Trope and Wiki Talk, sometimes ATT, and occasionally Image Pickin'.
- Alnair 20 Aug 93 writes for the Obscure Works and Tropes sections.
- MacronNotes contributed to the New Work Spotlight, Pages Needing Help, Changelog, and description sections for this edition. She spends most of her time on TRS, Long/Short Term projects, and TLP. She is also the herald of the Wiki Talk section on the forums.
- Berrenta assisted with the Changelog section for this edition. She is often found assisting with cleanup threads and wick checks, and watches over TRS.
- Purple Eyed Guma, for his first issue, wrote for Forumwatch. He contributes to Projects, Image Pickin’, & TLP. He took summer school this month, and while it wasn’t the greatest, it did not suck.
- callmeamuffin generally writes partially for Forumwatch and Project Spotlight. Outside of Trope Report, you might find him participating in the Forum Games, Trope Repair Shop, and Image Pickin' forums. You might also find he removes wicks to disambiguation pages, but sometimes, they keep on reappearing again...
- Twiddler makes sure our grammar is in order.
This edition of Trope Report is brought to you by The Sergeant of Waterloo, where Monsieur Thénardier, our charming master of the house, offers food beyond compare and reasonable charges. Residents are more than welcome to unlace their boots and rest from the road. The rest of the innkeepers? All of them crooks!
Interested in becoming a contributor, or have suggestions for works or tropes to feature? Pop by the thread and let us know! We don't bite. (Much.)
and let us know! We don't bite. (Much.)