This special case of
Renamed Tropes occurs when an existing article is renamed to allow a new article to occupy ("displace", if you will) the old title. It is also nicknamed a "
Trope Transplant", in the sense that the old trope was "transplanted" to a new title.
Reasons for this wiki phenomenon vary; it may be because the original title
wasn't getting used correctly (possibly caused by the definition not matching
what other tropers thought it was), or because it matched the name of a pre-existing fictional work (causing confusion about whether a given link refers to the
trope or the
work); the latter is now a formal policy.
Tropes renamed because of a fictional work
In some cases, we were able to preserve the reference to the
Trope Namer during the rename.
Other displaced tropes:
- Abandon Ship -> Abandon Shipping
Shipping pun made at the expense of a Stock Phrase.
- April Fools' Day -> April Fools' Plot
The former now means jokes made by makers and publishers of the work for April Fool's Day.
- Beyond the Impossible -> Serial Escalation
The former was confused with Up to Eleven so it was redefined to be Exactly What It Says on the Tin and thereby end the confusion.
- Bizarre Alien Biology -> Human Outside, Alien Inside
A fairly narrow and often misused trope about human-like creatures who are more alien than they appear was replaced with a broad trope+index covering all manner of bizarreness.
- Boy Meets Ghoul -> Non-human Lover Reveal
Everyone who used this trope seemed to think it had something to do with the undead, which, frankly, made a whole lot of sense. The part about The Reveal was almost universally overlooked.
- Bring My Brown Pants -> Bring My Red Jacket
Creating a Sister Trope that whose meaning was more clear from the old title. "Red" implying injury or blood; "brown" implying ... well, you know.
- The Cavalry -> Engineered Public Confession
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience -> Good Colors, Evil Colors
Creation of a Super Trope to encompass colors identifying more than just who's good and evil.
- Closer to Earth -> Women Are Wiser
This trope was misused for any situation where the usually White Male Lead gets inspirational advice from the downtrodden minority. It was renamed to make Exactly What It Says on the Tin and Closer to Earth is now a Super Trope to those tropes.
- Company Town -> Set Behind The Scenes
Wasn't clear where the usage was from, given a more descriptive name. Displaced by trope about company towns.
- Confetti Drop -> Tickertape Parade
Was a pre-existing term for something else, and the old title was not clear about being a game-show trope.
- Cosmic Horror -> Cosmic Horror Story
Originally referred to the genre of stories involving a Cosmic Horror, but was being used in reference to the creature itself; now redirects to Eldritch Abomination for this reason.
- Dead Man Walking -> Near Death Clairvoyance
Old title was a pre-existing term for something else.
- Epic Fail -> Missed Moment of Awesome (and later to Offscreen Moment of Awesome)
Misuse of a memetic Stock Phrase.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones -> Even Mooks Have Loved Ones
Was specific to Mooks, and widely misused for evil in general.
- Eye Open -> Eye Awaken
- Female Gaze -> Eating the Eye Candy
- Flashback Echo -> Visions of Another Self
- For Massive Damage -> Attack Its Weak Point
- Genius Breeding Act -> Pair the Smart Ones
The original trope described instances of particularly intelligent characters being matched up together by other characters, the author, or by the audience. Forced pairings of smart people now occupy the old trope name.
- Going Down With The Ship -> Dying Declaration of Love
Shipping pun made at the expense of a Stock Phrase.
- Good Is Dumb -> Redemption Demotion
- Hammerspace Hair -> Compressed Hair
Intended to mean hair of such volume that it may as well be stored in Hammerspace, it was constantly confused for hair being used as Hammerspace; which is what now occupies the old title.
- Hakuna Matata -> Sidekick Song
- I Just Shot Marvin in the Face -> Artistic License - Gun Safety
- I Sense A Disturbance In The Force -> The Force Is Strong With This One
Intended to reference Darth Vader sensing Ben Kenobi's presence on the Death Star (or perhaps the Emperor sensing Luke's potential as a Jedi), this Beam Me Up, Scotty! is more famously associated with Kenobi's sensing the destruction of Alderaan. The old title now redirects to My Significance Sense Is Tingling for this reason.
- Kill the Poor -> Neutron Bomb
- Klingon Promotion -> Dying To Be Replaced
- Little Black Dress -> Launcher of a Thousand Ships
- Living Ship -> Setting As A Character
Creating a Sub Trope whose name is more indicative.
- Mo Cap Mecha -> Impossibly Graceful Giant
Continuous misuse. Motion Capture Mecha was also created for that specific type of control, not just humanlike mecha motions.
- My Name Is Inigo Montoya -> Heroic Second Wind
- Petting Zoo People -> Little Bit Beastly
A lengthy forum discussion ruled that there was a clear distinction between these neighboring levels of anthropomorphism.
- Take This -> It May Help You on Your Quest
- This Just In -> Narrating The Obvious
The old titlenote possibly a sarcastic Lampshade Hanging of an author narrating the obvious is a Stock Phrase more commonly associated with news anchors.
- Twenty Four Hour Superpower -> Superpower Silly Putty
- Two Girls and a Guy -> With a Friend and a Stranger
- Wizarding School -> Extranormal Institute
- Words Can Break My Bones -> I Know Your True Name
