Misused: Karma Houdini Warranty

Not sure if this is related to this discussion, but Belated Child Discipline has just been launched, and it cites itself as a subtrope to Karma Houdini Warranty. How would this rename and change in scope of this trope affect the other one?

It shouldn't. It's kinda just "spoiled brat eventually gets punished", which has nothing to do with the idea we're working at.

Belated Child Discipline can't be a Sub-Trope of Karma Houdini Warranty, but that's a discussion for Belated Child Discipline for another thread.

So are we okay with Later Installment Karma for the new name?

How would this trope work for media like video games where new patches come out and add story content? Does that count as a later installment? Thinking of Genshin Impact specifically.

I guess that depends if the story in question is part of an overarching narrative or not. Basically, I would treat it like a TV show; if some Villain of the Week gets away in their debut episode and then gets karma in an unplanned Sequel Episode, it counts.

Anyway, I guess I could get behind Later Installment Karma

There are different times when the warranty expires. Sometimes it is at the end of the series, sometimes it is after a few seasons/volumes. I could see the case for it used in their introductory episode if they had kept getting away with stuff until the end or stated to have gotten away with a lot in their backstory. Several of the suggested alternate names don't work for every example I have seen.

Except that’s just “villain doesn’t get punished until the end of the story”, which is completely normal and not notable. Under that definition, literally every villain who doesn’t get defeated immediately could count. This is only notable if the villain was a Karma Houdini at one point, and then after the fact, the author changed their mind and punished the villain in a later installment.

Edited by MasterN on Apr 28th 2024 at 1:27:02 AM