Discussion Main / CaptainObvious

No, it would be redundant if it said "you are falling to your death which will kill you when you hit the bottom."

It describes the trope well, it is one character stating something apparent that really doesn't need to be said.

Except this is an actual trope. Its a character who points out the obvious.

"Just a face and a caption?" I'd say that the F/SN image not only captures the essence of the trope (even if it is out of context), but is a whole lot more amusing than some random crudely-drawn superhero thing. Not to mention, subtitles =/= captions; the current image would be just as obscure without the speech bubbles. A trope like "Captain Obvious" is impossible to represent in an image without text. Not to mention, that's been the page image for years, with little complaint or disagreement.

As for the ACTUAL caption, I preferred when it said "You don't say." with no links. If I don't see any disagreement within a couple days, I'm changing it back.

The F/SN image is a guy with a determined look on his face with a poorly translated line of dialogue underneath. It's the very definition of Just A Face And A Caption. The replacing image, by contrast, has a Sight Gag, text that clearly matches what's in the picture, and a caption that in itself demonstrates the trope.

I would like a clarification on how "subtitles =/= captions" in this context, because so far as I can tell we could just grab any random screenshot of Fate Stay Night, put that subtitle underneath it, and the image would make just as much sense.

It's because the image itself, subtitle and everything, is memetic. For example. The new picture, on the other hand, is a forced gag (might be funnier if it weren't transplanted wholesale and out of context from Cyanide and Happiness), the speech bubble that actually makes it a joke (the guy saying "Thanks") is barely readable, and the whole thing is kind of hackneyed. "Oh, Captain Obvious as superhero. How original." The old image is a meme in its own right, perfectly encapsulates the trope, WITHOUT beating you over the head with it.

"Just A Face And A Caption" applies to a picture that is JUST A FACE (subtitles=/=face) and a caption explaining why exactly this face is an example. You can't tell me that a person saying "People die when they are killed" is not being Captain Obvious. And that's what subtitles are; a representation of speech, just like speech bubbles. They're both visual methods of showing the words that a person is saying. In the spirit of this article, subtitles and speech bubbles both overlay words onto an image to show what a person is saying.

In conclusion, I have no idea why I care so much; but I'm tired of actual self-evident trope images getting deleted because of people invoking "Just A Face And A Caption." Seriously, that page is getting used to justify Replacing Images You Don't Like.

Ugh. Memetic Mutation is not an argument for a page picture. In fact, that's exactly the what we're supposed to be discouraging on the wiki. It's groupthink, and just about completely meaningless to those not already in on the joke. Most people do not see Memetic Mutation. They see a determined looking Anime character. Those subtitles would work great for a page quote- it would reference the meme and could provide a link to more info without bludgeoning the reader's head over it. But the picture itself? The entire draw of the image? Completely worthless. It's a joke that no one understands. To the vast majority of TV Tropes readers, that image might as well be:

As to your complaints about images being deleted- since you seem to care about this, you really ought to take these complaints to the image fixin' forum. That's where most of these policies regarding images were created, and it's a much more appropriate venue for this kind of broad discussion.

It's a fair argument that Memetic Mutation isn't an argument for a page picture.

I'd personally love to have that as the page quote... unfortunately, so many people have so many page quotes that the markup specifically discourages adding one.

I guess I'm a bit oversensitive about the image issue... I was kinda stressed earlier today, and last night (intensive summer calculus classes will do that to a person). Sorry for taking it out on you.

My last remaining gripe (about the current picture) was solved by the time I looked back (thanks for replacing the caption with "Thanks.") To be totally frank, I doubt any picture will ever satisfy everyone when it comes to a mostly-verbal phenomenon like "Captain Obvious." It's simply an impossible concept to portray visually. So the best we can do is aim for a picture-caption combination that makes people chuckle. The old one did it for me; with the improved caption, the new one is as well.

P.S. For some reason, the Haruhi-caption combination gave me a serious case of the giggles. I think that means it's bedtime.

There are plenty of great captain obvious pictures on the uncyclopedia page - surely we can use one of those right?