I'm thinking the second option, since I have searched for a similar concept/trope, yet I still have not found it. Interestingly, I'm actually now creating my own In-Universe Base-Breaking Character for a story I am crafting and I came here to find out if there is such a thing!
Edited by FirstDavila
"To put in trope-speak, The Scrappy meets Ensemble Dark Horse by way of Broken Base."
=> I contest. Ensemble Dark Horse doesn't mean "popular character" but "surprisingly popular minor character". While a main character can be a Base Breaker, he can't be an Ensemble Dark Horse. This maybe sould be rewritten.
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That probably contributes to the massive misuse that Ensemble Dark Horse sees.
Found a Youtube Channel with political stances you want to share? Hop on over to this page and add them.
Yep. Someone ought to file a removal request here
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Correction: Ensemble Dark Horse means "surprisingly popular minor or secondary character". And besides, such a character can overlap with a dark horse. Also, The Scrappy doesn't mean "unpopular character" but "surprisingly unpopular character".
Edited by jamgorham
I know this page doesn't allow any examples, but several works of fiction have entire Base-Breaking Character pages. Should we mention them here?
Linking to a past Trope Repair Shop thread that dealt with this page: Being confused with any fan-splitting thing, started by WaxingName on Jun 13th 2011 at 6:27:40 PM
Previous Trope Repair Shop thread: Ambiguous Name, started by ADrago on Jun 6th 2016 at 9:07:57 AM
Previous Trope Repair Shop thread: Needs Help, started by PhiSat on May 29th 2019 at 2:37:29 AM
Base Breaker is being renamed to Base-Breaking Character per TRS decision.
I feel that this trope needs a better name. Base Breaker is supposed to be about divisive characters, but I've ran into quite a few instances where this page was linked or potholed to when divisive elements or works were being discussed, which is what Broken Base is about. I feel that this trope needs a name that would make it more clear that this trope is supposed to be about characters and is not the same as Broken Base.
Edited by ADrago
Is Tina from Bob's Burger a Base Breaker because she seems like it.
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Details?
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
I can understand how some people like her, but with her voice, efforts always trying to be social, and how Gene and Louise are base breakers, I feel she's a base breaker too.
But then again, somewhere on TV did heard she was said to be the funniest character on the show. So you know
Can we please stop taking off the examples on subjective tropes like this? These are some of my favorite sections.
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Things got pretty heated, so we really can't. But you could always imagine they were on the page.
"Oh great! Let's pile up all the useless cats and hope a tree falls on them!"
Can I just say that the page image is a thing of beauty, though? Poor neutral-leaner. xD
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Combined effort :) https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1330541867095560100
Friend or Foe
Can we please start a discussion for a name change to this Trope? I've seen too many mistakes between Base Breaker and Broken Base that it just becomes annoying.
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That belongs in TRS. If you check the wicks to prove it's being confused, then you can start a thread about how to fix it.
Infinite Ideas, Zero Good.
Wait, this page allows examples again? When did this happen?
I write stupid crap about naked people. Hide / Show Replies
Some guy tried to restore them about two month after the examples were chopped. I removed them again.
Someone should ask a mod for this page to be locked, since it doesn't accept examples anymore.
and some people don't like the new My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic character, Pipsqueak. I wanna know why. I can think or reasons why some might not like the Cutie Mark Crusaders(but I don't agree with those reasons) but my head hurts trying to figure out what is even the slightest bit wrong with Pip.
and I'd still appreciate it if my last post was replied to.
Edited by brony99 Hide / Show Replies
All the examples have been removed. But that's a whole new question: should all examples listed on individual work YMMV pages be removed too? Just checking.
Edited by CP/FMfan
I am serious. This is my serious face.
Question about this trope- do the haters and the lovers have to be roughly equal in number for a character to qualify as a Base Breaker?
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Is there any real way to accurately determine how much people love a character and how much hate him/her? Because I think a few examples of this page are a bit questionable.
...
Probably not. One has to know the fandom opinion really well, I think.
Following that logic, couldn't anyone declare any character in existence a base breaker if they don't like him/her, as their is no real way to disprove them? The closest I can think is linking a fan website, and even an argument like that can be promptly shot down with "its just that site" or "those fans are a Vocal Minority." I think this is a pretty pressing issue, since literally any character can be said to be a Base Breaker. You can't just go on The Scrappy page and call any character you don't like one, but doing so is very possible on the Base Breaker page.
Edited by CPFMfan ...
I'd like to know too. the YMMV page for My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic says that the Cutie Mark Crusaders are Base Breakers but I only know of four or five people who outright hate them. and the reasons for the hate don't seem to hold much water either.
Edited by brony99
does anyone have an answer? I try to keep myself restrained but negativity towards the Cutie Mark Crusaders is a bit of a Berserk Button for me.
Okay, so I understand that this trope applies specifically to characters within works that cause a split in the fanbase. Trouble is, the general concept (a work's fanbase splitting over a single aspect) and rather ambiguous name of this trope make it very easy to apply to non-character aspects of a work. For example, I've seen several instances where this trope is applied to particularly polarizing entries in video game series.
Assuming this occasional confusion is enough to warrant a change to the trope, the question is whether we should:
A) Change the name to more obviously reflect the trope's character-based nature.
or
B) Expand the trope's definition to include non-character aspects.
'A' would obviously be the simpler choice, but an argument for 'B' is that (unless I'm mistaken) there doesn't seem to be an equivalent to this trope for non-character aspects of a work.
Edited by LanceOmikron Hide / Show Replies
I personally like the trope name and definition as they are.
Using it for only characters means that we don't have to go into as many critiques of certain franchises disguised as "basebreakers."
Fight. Struggle. Endure. Suffer. LIVE.
What exactly did Aang do in the [[Avatar: The Last Airbender]] finale to make him a base breaker?
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To answer your question, only one word is necessary: energybending.
Experience has taught me to investigate anything that glows.
Commodore
Cut from the Heroes entry:
- Is there the option to accept both the above statements [that Sylar should've died in S1 and that he's the only character worth watching]?
Sure. There's also the "neither" option — you'd never know it from this wiki, but some of us Heroes fans actually like the show. However, all of this is natter and belongs off the main page.
FiveMinute.net: because stuff is long and life is short
Sovvil: Removed Celia. No way is she a base breaker. She is by far the most hated of all the Stick character, and a Scrappy by a landslide majority. Considering what she was up against (Miko), that is something.
Edited by sovvil2008@yahoo.co.uk Hide / Show Replies
Hmm. That's the kind of comment that usually gets my Irish up, since in any large enough fandom, the only thing that's true of "most" fans is that they think "most" fans agree with them. But this trope is specifically about the vocal fans — they're the part of the "base" getting broken. So for once, this is a trope where one can safely make those broad statements, as long as one has spent enough time at a given series' forum or wherever the fans hang out online.
(I'm not really going anywhere with this. I just think it's interesting.)
As for Celia, I'm pretty neutral towards her. Don't mind her particularly but wouldn't miss her either. I'm surprised to hear she's so unpopular.
Edited by Zeke FiveMinute.net: because stuff is long and life is short
Is there an In-Universe version of the trope, or would such an instance require listing this trope and specifying it as In-Universe?
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