Where do you go to read the latest about new tropes?
What about old tropes with new names?
How can you find the best but least linked tropes out there?
Worry no more: Trope Report is here.
What about old tropes with new names?
How can you find the best but least linked tropes out there?
Worry no more: Trope Report is here.
What is Trope Report?
Greetings, Troper Hivemind!
Happy new year, and welcome to the first issue of the Trope Report revival! This monthly newsletter aims to keep you all updated on recent changes to tropes, recommend cool tropes and pages, and give a little push to pages and projects that could always use a helping hand. We'll always be covering a little bit of everything, but essentially, the goal is to capture a snapshot of what goes on around this big, wide wiki. If you're interested, keep on reading — this first issue has quite a lot to offer.
~Synchronicity, Chief Trope Report Officer
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Tropes and Works
Trope Spotlight
Obscure Tropes
This section highlights older tropes that need a boost.- Trying to figure out what to name your fantasy character? Have no fear, Name That Unfolds Like Lotus Blossom is here! For when just one name isn't enough. Why would you name your character something boring and uncool like Alice or Bob, when you could name them something like The One Whose Knowlege Of Fiction Conventions Is Overflowing, From Whomst Crosswicks Spread Like Fire on a Hot Autumn Day, and Whose Mastery of Example Indentation is Unrivaled? Giving characters long, descriptive, and flowery names is a fun way to add flavor in fantasy settings, but it's also popular in real life, as certain languages name people this way by default. Name That Unfolds Like Lotus Blossom has been on TV Tropes since at least 2011, but mythology has been using it for centuries, making this Older Than Steam.
New Tropes
This section brings attention to recently-launched tropes that could use a little help to really get rolling.—-- A new Video Game Settings trope for city levels was launched dubbed Metropolis Level. Prior to its creation, video game city levels never really had their own dedicated trope, with many pre-existing examples going under either Graffiti Town or Skyscraper City. Since neither of these tropes fully represent city levels as a whole, the addition of the Metropolis Level trope is very much needed to further document all cases of cities being used as levels in video games, as well as eliminate the ambiguity factor that led to shoehorned examples to those tropes in the past.
- Rolling along the curve, we get Mobile City, a trope talking about large cities that gain some means of direct transportation, and it's best known for its use in Mortal Engines. It's essentially a supertrope to Moving Buildings, Base on Wheels and Mercurial Base. While there was some debate over whether or not airborne and spaceborne cities should qualify for the trope (due to potential overlap with Floating Continent and Space Station respectively), Mobile City nonetheless launched successfully as another great addition to fictional settings used in media.
- Into music? Then you would be interested in Avian Flute. Historically, birds have been represented by flutes for as long as humans listened to bird chimes, with symphony orchestras using flutes to portray birds in many pieces of media. This trend still continues to this day, showing just how old and prominent this trope really is despite its new status. Its best known use is in the classic music piece, Peter and the Wolf, by Sergei Prokofiev.
Work Spotlight
New Work Page Spotlight
This section covers newer work pages that could use a little help.- Nathan's Kingdom is a 2018 sci-fi/drama film about an autistic man (played by autistic actor Jacob Lince) and his teenage opioid-addicted sister who venture out in pursuit of their mysterious "kingdom," the safe haven the siblings created in their youth. Blending live-action family drama with 3D animated fantasy sequences, this film premiered at several film festivals and received positive reviews for its well-done visuals and engaging narrative about mental health. The work page was only created on November 21 of this year, with a little over a dozen tropes listed and 23 wicks. It has a very small Trivia subpage, but still needs a YMMV subpage to document the reception.
Older/Obscure Work Spotlight
This section is intended to highlight works that may no longer be in the zeitgeist — but that doesn't mean they're any less tropable.- Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids is a cartoon from The Dark Age of Animation with an edutainment model. There's an An Aesop in each episode which it's usually based on, but they still hold up to this day and the characters are entertaining. The page received a large expansion in October 22, 2020 with info from three episodes, "Busted" - the gang goes to jail and interacts with the prisoners, "Mainstream" - a retarded (and yes, they do use that word) student joins class and he can do anything just about as well as the rest, only slower, and "Mister Big Time" - the gang keeps receiving gifts from a rich friend's Cool Big Bro, but there is a reason why he is so rich. Another expansion was added on November 17, 2020, with stuff related to the episode "Smoke Gets in Your Hair" which shows the consequences of smoking for your health and public life. Considering there were over 100 episodes, it could always be expanded further.
- Everyone's saying goodbye to the year 2020, but do you remember Raid 2020? It's an NES game that tried to depict this very year, but instead of focusing on a virus and racial issues (it couldn't have known about them as it was released back in 1989), it shows a drastic escalation of the drug problem with the addition of technological elements, to the point the title screen says "Winners Fight Drugs", drug dealers roam a pier, and there's a drug satellite. The game is your typical unlicensed fare, but it sure shows a different perspective of What Could Have Been for the year and The Angry Video Game Nerd has reviewed it back when the year started, as he did say "maybe I'll review that in the year 2020" in his "Bible Games 2" episode back in 2008.
- Night Driver is a really old video game, as it was released in 1976. In it, you drive a car and are supposed to get as far as you can within 100 seconds. You also have to avoid hitting poles on the sides of the road and the Atari 2600 has other cars show up on the road as obstacles. It looks impressive for the time thanks to the pseudo-3D perspective and fast-paced gameplay. The Early Video Games index it's on could likely be bigger itself, as while it doesn't see additions often and there weren't many games released pre-1980, there is still quite a bit of retro gaming there to cover.
Works That Need a Page
This section takes a page from the List of Shows That Need Summary. It is intended to spotlight works that people have been talking about enough to link around the site, but don't have a page yet. If the work page link turns blue after this, then we know we've done our job!
- On November 19, 2017, comedian Hari Kondabolu's documentary The Problem With Apu aired on the truTV network, and quickly brought the issue of Apu's Base-Breaking Character status from the South Asian-American community to the mainstream. The documentary follows Kondabolu as he tries to score an interview with Apu's white voice actor Hank Azaria, and features interviews with South Asian-American entertainers such as Hasan Minhaj, Aziz Ansari, and Kal Penn about their experiences, such as being taunted with Apu's catchphrases, attempting to break from the Minority Show Ghetto, and even being told to "do the Apu voice" as part of their roles. The documentary quickly gathered buzz after it aired, to the point where it got a Take That! on the South Park episode "The Problem with A Poo", an acknowledgement in a Simpsons episode, and put Apu Out of Focus in the series. There's already four redlinks to it, and who knows how many Title Drops, especially in pages relating to The Simpsons, so step right up and make the page!
Non-English Work Spotlight
The wiki may be in English, but that doesn't mean non-English media are any less important! This section focuses on works that may have a language barrier to deal with — but are worth it if you do.- Progressbar 95 is a mobile and PC game by the German developers at Spooky House Studios. It has casual yet solid gameplay that does not rely on microtransactions, plenty of modes and ways to customise gameplay, as well as tons of Windows references. It has also been receiving updates regularly for over a year, the developers teased a line of systems based on Mac in November 2020, so there is still a lot of potential for the game's expansion. Despite the game's German roots, it's playable in at least twelve languages. The page for the game has been kept healthy as well, with more than 60 wicks.
- Kajko i Kokosz is a Polish comic book series released most popular in the 1980s. Despite that, it received several new comics in 2016, a full-length issue in 2019, and a few tabletop games. It's about two warriors living in seemingly medieval Poland. The short, clever Kajko and the muscled, rather simple-minded Kokosz are warriors who protect the village of Mirmiłowo from the schemes of a band of brigands (zbójcerze), though they sometimes head out on journeys. The comics have a distinct style of coloring and memorable lines that are still frequently quoted in Poland. Our article was even translated into Polish back in 2017, though the rather poor and unrooted translation system hasn't allowed for much to be done since.
- Pixelo is a Puzzle Game by the Korean developer known as Megusta or CatMayor. The game's based on Picross, with RPG Elements and a sleeker artstyle. There are hundreds of puzzles to solve, with the majority of them added as part of a daily puzzle system. Unfortunately, as Adobe Flash is getting killed off for computers and the game's tech does not support 64-bit apps for mobile, the game is no longer receiving new content, but if you want to download it and experience a relaxing puzzler, it's still out there.
Creator Page Spotlight
Works would be nothing without the people who make them. This section highlights authors, artists, actors, and everyone else responsible for trope creation and proliferation.- The New '10s were Pedro Pascal's decade, and we just lived in it. Mr. Pascal's spot on Game of Thrones brought the already-fan-favorite A Song of Ice and Fire character Oberyn Martell to a wide international audience, and netted the actor roles in a wide range of action and genre works, from Narcos to Triple Frontier. He's got big-budget franchises in the bag, too — besides currently playing the lead and titular character of The Mandalorian, he's also lined up to play DC Comics villain Maxwell Lord in the upcoming Wonder Woman 1984. The Chilean-American Pascal is also aware
of the need for Hispanic and Latino representation in Hollywood, and has certainly contributed to that. - Is "one of the few English novels written for grown-up people" considered high praise? It is when you're Virginia Woolf talking about George Eliot, the Moustache de Plume of one Mary Ann Evans. A Victorian writer largely known for her pastoral depictions of England, focus on social outsiders, and trope awareness, Eliot was known for writing novels, including the previously-lauded Middlemarch. Tropers may also want to check out Silly Novels by Lady Novelists, a Victorian-era parody of Common Mary Sue Traits.
Image/Image Caption of the Month
This section brings you the best of the recent selections from Image Pickin.
The fact that this image shows a show's title becoming obsolete is one thing; the fact that activity is sex, and the fact that it's lampshaded In-Universe makes it go above and beyond illustration.
Now, since this is the first issue, I'll give you a second image for the price of one! This one's on Memes.Among Us:
that decided on this image did so in under an hour.
For our image of the month, we have this image on ArtifactTitle.Live Action TV, brought to you by the Image Suggestions thread:
The fact that this image shows a show's title becoming obsolete is one thing; the fact that activity is sex, and the fact that it's lampshaded In-Universe makes it go above and beyond illustration.
Now, since this is the first issue, I'll give you a second image for the price of one! This one's on Memes.Among Us:
"I saw Judas vent!"
This image does a good job showcasing not just a meme in the Among Us community, but also showcases the Memetic Mutation trope. You thought it was just a repository of memes? No, Memetic Mutation involves memes evolving by interacting with other media, and there's hardly any media as well known as The Bible! To show how great of an image this was, the Image Pickin' thread that decided on this image did so in under an hour.Projects and Discussions
Forumwatch
This section will cover the forums in general. What's in here can depend: sometimes, we'll notify you about an important thread somewhere in Wiki Talk, and other times, we'll bring your attention to some fun threads in Just For Fun where you can get your excitement out!
- The first thread we'll tell you about is actually the one that made this first newsletter possible! This is the "Bringing Back Trope Report" thread, where we organized this whole thing. And we're inviting anyone to help out! If you're reading this, and thinking either "wow, this sounds fun! I want to try!" or "hey, I can do so much better than this", then just hop in! We can use all the help that we can get.
- Have you ever read through The Scrappy and thought, "What the hell? I actually kinda enjoyed that character!" Well, you're not the only one! In fact, there's a whole thread for that, Not Hating Scrappies V2. Go on! Admit that you actually found Jar Jar Binks enjoyable at some points! We won't judge!
- And finally, sometimes you want to discuss with people about genuinely serious topics while still relating to our mission of troping the world. One conversation that you might find interesting is Male Roles Vs. Female Roles in Fiction: Discussion/Analysis/Troperwank. In this thread, people talk about how gender roles are depicted in fiction, which tropes end up contributing to them, and how all of it ends up having an effect on real life.
Trope/Article Changelog
This section covers renames, removals, hard-splits, merges, and wick cleaning. We'll try to keep you alerted of any major changes to the site, including perpetual projects and Wiki Talk decisions that you may have missed, but if you want to be a part of the process that affects so much of our wiki, then head over to the Trope Repair Shop on the left-hand side of the forum.
- Frickin' Laser Beams has been merged with Energy Weapon because many wicks and examples used it for the latter. The "lasers are slower in fiction" part of the trope was transplanted to Slow Laser. Click here to check the TRS thread.
- Adorkable has been made YMMV because many examples were based on audience perception. Endearingly Dorky has been created to catch in-universe examples. Check out the TRS thread here
- Your Cheating Heart has been converted into an index because cheating on its own isn’t a trope. It was retooled as an index for tropes centered around cheating and was renamed to Infidelity Index. See the TRS thread here.
- Flower In Her Hair has been turned into a disambiguation as per the Appearance tropes cleanup thread. Flowers of Femininity and Flowers of Nature have been created to catch some of the leftover examples/wicks.
Pages Needing Help
This section highlights articles indexed on the Pages Needing Wiki Magic policy page and subpages. Such articles are, at best, underperforming and below wiki standards. At worst, these pages are in violation of the wiki's rules against stubs. If you're an editor, try checking out some of these underperforming trope and work articles to see what improvements you can make to the page.
- December's birthday is Corey Haim. He has a good number of wicks to his page, a little over forty. Unfortunately, barely any of his films are listed, and only two tropes? He's impacted plenty of works despite a short career. Just adding Referenced by... examples would do a lot to expand the page. Plus, vampires! Gotta plug the vampires, right?
- Have any of you seen Sanjay and Craig? The work is pretty popular, with over 4k inbounds, but did you know it had a comic book revival in 2015? Well, apparently nobody else did, either. There's been almost no improvements to the page since it was created in 2015, leaving a lackluster description which doesn't say if the comics continue from the end of the series or are a re-telling of the events of the series, there's no image of the first volume, there's less than ten tropes (and even then, the context is sparse), and worst of all, the only index Pages Needing Wiki Magic! Come on, Nickfans, the Best Friends Hall of Fame needs your help!
- Everyone is familiar with Science Fiction, where creators posit new science as the basis of more fiction, but what about the inverse, when fiction is used as the basis of more science? That's Fiction Science. It's a trope that also applies when fiction inspires advice or context for explaining business management and philosophy. However, the page is missing a quote/image, the example list mostly just has titles, and almost none of the franchises crosswick back to the trope page. If anyone wants to pick up some Non-Fiction to excuse their fandom obsession, this is certainly a trope to check up on. Books about how an Alcubierre Drive would work, how the hundred-acre woods is a business model, and moral arguments over footballs are not just a genre, they're educational, too.
Project Spotlight
Looking for a project to dedicate some time to, but not comfortable jumping into large threads? Here are some smaller projects, or more recent discussions, in need of a few more hands.
- The Color Tropes Cleanup effort has been slowly gathering steam since creation, but still needs more help. "Color Tropes" are an unfortunate source of chairs, Zero-Context Examples, and struggling tropes, and this cleanup effort aims to clean up the mess. If it sounds like your thing, get involved today and jump in at the beginning of a new project!
- The TRS Thread for All Adult Animation Is South Park has decided to turn the trope into a more-neutral and more-encompassing genre page focusing on raunchy adult comedy, under the new name Animated Shock Comedy. To accompany this shift, an updated definition is needed. If you would like to help flesh out the history and meaning of this genre, stop by the thread and start brainstorming!
- The Star Wars Cleanup thread has decided that any examples about an Alternative Character Interpretation within only one work would go only on that work's YMMV page. Any examples pertaining to the character across one or more works would go on AlternativeCharacterInterpretation.Star Wars. If you would like to help with this effort, please jump in to the thread and post some of your ideas in the Star Wars Cleanup sandbox!
Know the Contributors
- Synchronicity writes Creator Page Spotlight and oversees this whole shebang. Likes tropes and works about comedy, slice of life, and sci-fi/fantasy. For some reason, also enjoys keeping the wiki tidy.
- Piterpicher is the head honcho of Older/Obscure Work Spotlight and Non-English Work Spotlight. Those are the kinds of works he's interested in, but he's primarily a gamer. When it comes to wiki philosophy, the priorities are making it fun for readers, encompassing, and well-performing in terms of SEO.
- crazysamaritan writes for the Pages Needing Help section, keeping an eye out for stubs and crosswicking.
- Kappaclystica writes for the Image of the Month. Hates unillustrative images.
- MadameButterflyKnife is the writer for Forumwatch. They spend most of their time talking in the forums, especially the Just For Fun section, and fixing up any syntax errors that they stumble upon in the wiki.
- Mighty Mewtron writes for the New Work Page spotlight. She probably hasn't seen these works before coming across their pages, but she likes to be involved in the growth of the wiki. Beyond the Trope Report, she's most active in forums, TLP, and the pages for whatever work she's obsessed with this month.
- MacronNotes writes for the Changelog section. She spends most of her time on TRS, Long/Short term projects, and TLP. She is also the herald of the Wiki Talk section on the forums.
- War Jay 77 writes for the Project Spotlight section. She is also the Herald of Projects: Long Term/Perpetual, and spends much of her time refreshing on the forums, ATT and TLP for new things to respond to.
- gjjones writes for the Project Spotlight section. He also frequently spends his time working on projects whenever they are necessary, cleaning up wiki entries and participating in the ATT and Trope Repair Shop threads.
- Divine Flame 100 writes the New Tropes Spotlight section. Just a generic editor who lurks on TLP and the forums on occasion, but mostly focuses on making edits to very niche work pages.
- naturalironist writes for the Obscure Trope Spotlight, and spends a lot of time on the wiki, adding examples and serving as an Entry Pimp.
- ccorb writes for Works That Need a Page, and spends a lot of their time on Image Pickin', Trope Repair Shop, Trope Launch Pad, and the Projects forums, and also Wiki Walks, searching for works and tropes they find interesting. They credit this very wiki for introducing them to anime and manga they had never heard of before but would like to watch/read, such as My Hero Academia, A Silent Voice and Hunter × Hunter.
This edition of Trope Report has been sponsored by Trope Co.. Trope Co: Your one-stop-shop for all things tropey!
Interested in becoming a contributor, or have suggestions for works or tropes to feature? Pop by the the thread and let us know! We don't bite. (Much.)
and let us know! We don't bite. (Much.)