Duplicate tropes discussion thread

A thread discussing similar tropes. If thread participants agree that two (or more) tropes really don't seem distinct enough to be separate, one can start a thread in the Trope Repair Shop for further discussion.

Before asking "What's the difference between these tropes?", check the Canonical List of Subtle Trope Distinctions and Laconical List of Subtle Trope Distinctions lists. They may contain the answer. Feel free to contribute to them, too.

Edited by Tabs on Nov 1st 2022 at 10:57:37 AM

I would need to see a wick check to know for sure, Sounds like they are completely separate tropes.

Asian prostitute and Asian wife don't sound like duplicates. If there's tons of misuse, that would change things.

... yeah, that's... wow. No. They do both have Asian women. That's where the similarities begin and end. It's like saying White Male Lead and Mighty Whitey and Mellow Yellow are the same trope. Is there misuse of them?

That said, poor starting example notwithstanding, I'm not against the idea of a thread acting as a pseudo-vetting process for TRS. That could really be of use.

edited 15th Feb '18 10:12:44 AM by Larkmarn

Assuming we can handle 2 conversations at once, I've been a troper for years and never gotten a straight answer on the difference between "Blind Idiot" Translation and Translation Train Wreck. I've been told that "Blind Idiot" Translation is less severe than Translation Train Wreck, but the examples and page images don't seem to reflect that.

Huh.

I always took "Blind Idiot" Translation to basically be "overly literal translation to the point of being incorrect or awkward" but there are portions of the description that make it clear it's "Translation Trainwreck but less so."

So I guess it's basically "BIT: Awkward translation" and "TT: Nonsensical translation."

Fire Extinguisher does not translate to Hand Grenade in any reasonable manner.

- Somehow that's an example in TT - Real Life though. Remove, yes?

edited 15th Feb '18 1:21:28 PM by Malady

Here's the text in Blind Idiot Translation:

• As pictured on the main page, we have a fire extinguisher that was labeled as "hand grenade" which is clearly wrong. What's interesting is that fire extinguishers can actually function as a hand grenade (though they won't create a fire explosion a real grenade would and will put out fire instead).

That sounds like Translation Trainwreck to me. Also, natter with the part about using an exploding fire extinguisher to get rid of fires.

- So, the usual suggestion would be to ask if its a correct example at "Is This An Example" in Long-Term?

I believe I made an IP thread a while back and it was declined.

So... I should probably go find that to confirm... Can't find, but did find Thread That Decided Current BIT Image.

To change the topic...

Is Phosphor-Essence just gathering examples of Battle Aura, Light Is Good, and Power Glows?

There's only 33 entries on there.

Like, I'd put the following under Power Glows, because, that's why they're glowing, due to being filled with power:

edited 20th Feb '18 9:34:36 PM by Malady

Here's another duplicate issue I have: Special Thanks is pretty much the same thing as Thanking the Viewer.

How are those the same?

So, it seems like Kaleidoscope Hair is just Inconsistent Coloring, Hair Edition...

Was going to TRS, but not gonna, if you guys can say how the specificity has extra meaning...

Kaleidoscope Hair is about In-Universe changes to hair colour. These exist in the same continuity.

Inconsistent Coloring is about the meta of colouring the work. It doesn't necessarily follow the In-Universe perception. It can also, as the image shows, be of the same scene in different versions.

- Hmm... So, then is Inconsistent Coloring describing two or more tropes? One for when it's a production issue, another when it's actually a part of the work?

I'm having differentiation issues with IC and Kaleidoscope Eyes...

Also asked in the Description Improvement Drive about the topic...

And I have a Kaleidoscope Eyes TRS.

edited 11th Mar '18 9:30:36 AM by Malady

The definition of Inconsistent Coloring only speaks about different colouring. It doesn't specify why more than that it's about faulty production, retcons, or version changes.

Kaleidoscope Eyes is redirected to Inconsistent Coloring, so I'm not sure what you mean there.

- Yeah, because I made it go there.

So, what I'm thinking, is that Kaleidoscope Eyes and Kaleidoscope Hair, were / are basically "bodypart color changes randomly", and Inconsistent Coloring, as its description says, "characters' colors aren't consistent from one moment to the next", so they seem to be the same trope, with K-Eyes and K-Hair The Same, but More Specific in a possibly meaningless way.

OH... Inconsistent Coloring for when the color isn't actually changing, and just due to lighting effects or something... KE otherwise...

edited 11th Mar '18 4:02:06 PM by Malady

Not sure if I should bring this up here or create a new topic asking about trope distinctions... but what is the difference between Writing Around Trademarks and Captain Ersatz? Both seem to be about using an existing character from another work but giving enough tweaks to avoid copyright infringement.

edited 11th Mar '18 1:23:10 PM by Adept

What's the difference between 20 Minutes into the Past and Two Decades Behind?

A possible distinction could be that Two Decades Behind is specifically "the time when all the film producers were teens" whereas 20 Minutes into the Past is for shorter time differences (5 years or so), but this isn't clear at all in the description, and the pages don't reference each other at all.

^^ Writing Around Trademarks seems to be specifically about character names. Captain Ersatz is when the entire character is the same with another name attached.

It looks to me like Two Decades Behind is for when a show tries to pass itself off as present day, but it has some dated elements that do have a specific time period attached to them, and 20 Minutes into the Past is when the show explicitly sets itself in a period considered the past around the time the show/episode aired, whether that past was 1 year ago, or 20 years ago.

Way to think of it would be, if a character is playing on a Gameboy Advance and the show is very clearly set around 2003, it's 20 Minutes into the Past, but if it's (as of now) 2018 and people playing Gameboy Advances is considered a popular trend in the setting, it's Two Decades Behind as by this point, most of the modern world has moved onto game apps on their phone, the Nintendo 3ds, etc.

edited 17th Mar '18 8:40:18 PM by YourIdeas

Two Decades Behind is when the story is set in the "current" time, but it feels dated even at the time of release. It's a setting dissonance trope.

20 Minutes into the Past is when the story is set in the recent past. It's a plain setting trope.

That makes sense. The description on Two Decades Behind is a bit confusing though.

Yeah. It's way too long and meanders too much into half-specific examples.