Color Tropes Cleanup

- True Blue Femininity.

Edited by Malady on Oct 15th 2020 at 1:22:10 AM

Soo what do we do next? Have a crowner for Blue Is Heroic?

Sure.

Blue Is Heroic is sort of an amalgam of other blue-related tropes: Heavenly Blue and Blue Is Calm (the opposite of Red Is Violent), and Primary-Color Champion. It combines the connotations of all of these while being less explicit — a blue-clad hero doesn't to be an actual angel or a pacifist, but the viewer still gets a "good guy" vibe from the outfit because of these associations.

I would support creating a Blue Is Calm trope but I don't think Blue Is Heroic should be cut, because it is so ubiquitous and does have real meaning. It undoubtedly needs a cleanup though.

Edited by naturalironist on Nov 20th 2020 at 3:05:05 PM

After y'all are done with Blue Is Heroic, think you could check Purple Is the New Black? A lot of examples are just "character wears/thing is purple", some are from works that do use black (and in conjunction with purple, at that) and I think people might be confusing this trope for evil characters wearing purple... except the examples also don't have any context regarding how the character's evil.

Maybe we should make a sandbox like the other thread has.

The issue with though is that so many of the examples are either just sheer coincidence or don't match the description. Heroes wearing blue isn't a strong media pattern. If we don't cut it it'll need massive cleanup for misuse issues.

There's already one, WarJay. Color Tropes Cleanup.

Ah, good.

I've made Sandbox.Blue Is Heroic Wick Check; let's do this before we set up any sort of crowners.

Also crossposted to the Wick Check Project thread.

Wick-check update. The 18 wicks I have so far, uh...well, the sandbox should speak for itself.

We're probably gonna have to cut this thing. Yeesh.

Retool ideas:

• Blue is The Hero's color
• In a cast of Color-Coded Characters, the blue one is The Hero

There are definitely some cases where the color choice seems meaningful, I'm just trying to figure out the common threads in those...

I feel like the most common form of Blue Is Heroic where it seems to have any actual intent is in contrast to red villains. IMO this is actually common enough to be a distinct subtrope to Good Colors, Evil Colors, but I've also traditionally felt that trope's a little too broad anyway, so take that for what it's worth.

So far there's an Among Us example like that on the Sandbox. It might be worth a TLP trip.

I'm not opposed to the idea that there's nuggets of good ideas here, but as-is, Blue Is Heroic seems to be overwhelmingly used for any hero or somewhat-heroic-character that happens to wear blue, with no rhyme or reason to why. It's an appearance trope with a colorful coating.

Or at least, that's what the wick check is currently implying. For all I know the next 30 wicks checked will be greatly detailed and meaningful. But probably not.

Chiming in. Aside from the Aladdin example mentioned previously, what exactly counts as a true example of Blue Is Heroic? I don't doubt that there's a lot of misuse of the trope but I am curious as to how y'all think it's supposed to be used. Like, can you point me to an unambiguously good example?

Also, do we need Word of God to say "we specifically chose blue for the heroes" in order for it to count? Where exactly is the line between "this is just a hero wearing blue" and "this is true Blue Is Heroic because the creator said so", if there even is such a line?

It's not that the creators chose Blue for being a "heroic color", it's if blue has some relevance to them being a hero. Like it should symbolize their heroic-ness and not just be an incidental color choice.

I get that. The reason I asked is because the Aladdin example specifically brings up creator intention, and that's the only good example I see named so far. It's why I asked if there's another good example of, as you put it, "blue [symbolizing] their heroic-ness" just so we can be clear of what a true Blue Is Heroic trope usage looks like.

This I guess? From the main page. At least it's one example that doesn't focus on the color.

• Vince in Pikaia, down to the color of his BMS. He's the type of hero who has to rely on intelligence and kindness just as much as strength.

Blue has associations calmness, levelheadedness and intelligence so I think it should represent a hero's personality that way. Most examples don't mention the hero's temperament being represented by the color and how it reflects on their heroism. Red Is Heroic usually associated with passionate action oriented heroes then Blue Is Heroic should be associated with cool and collected heroes who are more on the logical side when it comes to performing heroic feats. Another valid use would be to make the hero blue to contrast the villains red colour scheme.

Blue Is Heroic on it's own has too much to misuse to exist as is so I do think it should be split between something like Blue Is Calm (dunno about it being hero specific) and Blue Heroes Red Villains.

(dunno if this makes any sense I am tired)

Yes. Sonic the Hedgehog is a character who's both of these tropes:

• Blue Is Heroic: Arguably the poster child of this trope in video games. His blueness represents freedom and clear blue skies, as well as his generally easygoing nature. This is put in contrast with Eggman's redness as well as Knuckles's intense red and Shadow's red accents.

Edited by ccorb on Nov 27th 2020 at 6:48:30 AM

Little bump. The wick check only needs 10 more wicks. I might finish it tonight.

When it's done, should take it to TRS? I don't think this thread is popular or established enough to decide things without TRS but taking the ensuing cleanup here could get this project a boost of attention. Or if the mods decide to hold the discussion here that could also boost us.

Also, I want to dispute Good Colors, Evil Colors being on the sandbox on the basis that about a year ago I painstakingly went through the wicks of it for a TRS effort. It shouldn't have any more wicks that don't establish the morality, or at least not a lot of them.

Edited by WarJay77 on Nov 28th 2020 at 3:00:35 PM

I would prefer if the crowner is done on this thread although yeah there isn’t a lot of interest unfortunately. Maybe ask for mod opinion?

Edited by MacronNotes on Nov 30th 2020 at 6:33:27 AM

~War Jay 77: Are you still doing the last of the wicks? If not, I can. I guess we can remove the Good Colors, Evil Colors section and file the wicks under misc.

I can, I just forgot about it.

Why remove the Good Colors, Evil Colors section though?

Edited by WarJay77 on Dec 7th 2020 at 5:35:55 AM

Oh I thought you were disputing the section being on the sandbox.

On the color tropes sandbox, not the wick check one.

Oh wow I am dumb haha but anyways yeah it shouldn’t be on there if it’s already been cleaned up.