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: Holiday Mode 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: Holiday Mode is here.
Trope Report is a monthly newsletter that intends to showcase works and tropes from all corners of this website. It also aims to keep the troper hivemind updated with pertinent trope changes and discussions.
Christmas time is here, and whether you're dreaming of a white Christmas, rocking around the Christmas tree, or simply Home Alone, we've got a full stocking's worth of entries for you.
You may have noticed that crowners have started working a little differently (which is to say, they hardly work for non-moderators), and things like Badass Beard are getting de-troped — read about it in the Changelog. If you're writing up tropes for your favorite show's Christmas Episode, perhaps one of our spotlighted tropes can help you out.
Last Christmas we were putting the finishing touches on the Trope Report revival's first issue. Disbelief that it's been a whole year aside, we want to hear your feedback for how we can improve in 2022. We've put up a short survey on Sandbox.Trope Report Feedback 2021, so please feel free to drop by with a comment or suggestion.
In addition, I'm a little sad and nostalgic to let you all know that this will be my final entry as Chief Trope Report Officer and I'll be stepping down as a regular contributor from the newsletter. Helping revive it was a lot of fun, but it's time to turn over the reins to the other contributors, who (jingle bell) rock. But that won't stop me from wishing you all a Wonderful Christmas Time and a most blessed New Year! See you all around.
~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.- Need a good way to store all that cash you got for Christmas? Look no further than your refrigerator! The trope Cold Cash details the curious phenomenon of people hiding money or other valuables in their refrigerator or freezer. The trope has been on the wiki for over a decade but only has 31 wicks.
New Tropes
This section brings attention to recently-launched tropes that could use a little help to really get rolling.- 'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through this site, not a troper was stirring, not even at night. Poor attempts at rhyming aside, it's surprisingly common for the poem of "The Night Before Christmas" to be copied, altered, and parodied for other holidays or special occasions, keeping its iconic feel in spite of large changes. The Parody Before Christmas, launched on October 1st, catalogues all of these changes and twists, offering a wide variety of takes on this world-famous holiday poem. Now dash away to add any more examples you can find!
- Humans are one of the very few creatures to cry when they feel sad. It's natural for someone to shed tears when faced with something tragic or painful, like a scraped knee, a messy breakup, or the loss of a loved one. Some, however, refuse to cry, either because they believe crying makes them look weak, or because they want to keep up a cheery façade. Ultimately, they finally let the waterworks flow and release their suppressed sorrows when their loved ones tell them It's Okay to Cry, and that openly expressing their emotions is normal. Launched on October 18th, this trope is a common staple in children-oriented works, teaching the viewers that letting it all out is perfectly okay.
Work Spotlight
New Work Page Spotlight
This section covers newer work pages that could use a little help.- Angela's Christmas is a film adaptation of the children's illustration book Angela and the Baby Jesus, written by Frank McCourt of Angela's Ashes fame. It's a free-spirited, heartwarming tale of a little girl who wants to keep a little Baby Jesus statue warm and cozy after stealing it from a local church on Christmas Eve, and its sequel, Angela's Christmas Wish, set a year later, sees the titular character making plans with her brother to hatch up a surprise for their family. While the work page has a decent amount of tropes, a little more could be offered regarding side characters and the plot, and, at the very least, a YMMV, Tear Jerker, and Heartwarming Page may be more than welcome for consideration.
- Prepare your giant inflatable Santas, Rudolphs, and Minions in Santa hats, because it's time for The Great Christmas Light Fight! While this seasonal ABC show has been running since 2013, the page was only created on November 29th. It turns Over The Top Christmas Decorations into a reality competition, as four families per episode compete to show off their shining festiveness, with judges voting on their design, usage of lights, and general Christmas spirit. Troping reality television is a bit tricky, but all these designs have creative elements that can be noted on the page. Happy holidays, and don't forget to check your electricity bills!
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.- KGB is an Adventure Game by Cryo Interactive released in 1992, ported to CD as Conspiяacy: Starring Donald Sutherland. You play as Maksim Rukov, an ex-Spetsnaz agent transferred to Department P. Your inital assignment is investigating the murder of a private eye, but you soon end up in a much larger mess involving a conspiracy, mind-control, and other stuff. You have to interrogate different people, remember what you discover, move quickly, and above all watch out, as any screw-up can result in you getting re-assigned to a cold island, killed, or the game becoming unwinnable. The intriguing plot, oppressive atmosphere, and a fine sense of aesthetics all make this worth investigating, especially on the 30th anniversary of the fall of the USSR, comrades.
- Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer is a Christmas Special aired in 2000 which was adapted from the eponymous Elmo Shropshire novelty song and other songs written by him. Grandma Spankenheimer owns the only piece of property not yet owned by the Own-All Corporation and refuses to sell it, much to greedy Cousin Mel's chagrin. Meanwhile, her grandson Jake still believes Santa exists, and witnesses Grandma getting run over by a reindeer. She disappears, months go by without her, sales plummet, and Cousin Mel claims the store. It's up to Jake to prove Santa's existence and save the store. It's a fantastic choice to watch with your family or close associates thanks to the sheer So Bad, It's Good factor resulting from the ridiculous story, cheap animation, and corny jokes.
- Epic Battle Fantasy 1 is a Role-Playing Game by Matt Roszak released in 2009. You control Matt and Natalie, labeled as Player 1 and 2 respectively, who battle waves of monsters in different areas. There's no plot, character progression, or world exploration, but you get to visit a shop twice to buy items. While it's not much compared to the later games in the Epic Battle Fantasy series, it still manages to provide competent gameplay with a nice art style. It was re-released in October 2020 on Android for $1 with checkpoints, Zero mode for less experienced players, copyrighted characters/music getting replaced, and other additions, so now's an excellent chance to revisit it.
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!- Wonderful Opportunity is a two-person group mostly known for making songs using the Vocaloid vocal software. In particular, their songs using the Kagamine Rin/Len voicebanks are incredibly popular, with the electronics-themed song "Remote Control" having millions of views between its YouTube upload
and its NicoNico upload. Despite this, they are one of the many Vocaloid-related producers who haven't gotten a page yet.
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.- Parameters is a Japanese RPG by NEKOGAMES / Yoshio Ishii. It's the epitome of minimalism, with no story, no proper graphics, and no music/sound effects. Just click on boxes on a large grid to fight enemies and complete missions. As you do so, you gain EXP to level up, gold to spend on various upgrades, and keys to gain access to locked areas. Your goal is killing the final boss, which is that big box at the bottom. Despite the game's simplicity and parodic nature, it still manages to be a satisfying little box of fun.
- Did you ever wonder if your toys led a secret life away from human eyes? Then see Plüsch, Power & Plunder, a German Tabletop RPG where you play as plushies who must not be seen by people. Unfortunately, the information stops there — our page's description and trope list are incredibly short to the point of almost being a stub. Would you be willing to help save this page from going into the dump?
- "The Little Match Girl" is a short story by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. On New Year's Eve, a little girl sits barefoot outside, trying to sell matches, not able to go back home as she's afraid her parents will beat her up if she doesn't sell any. As she burns matches, she experiences visions of things she desires, like a warm fire, a roast goose, and a Christmas tree. Afterwards she looks at the sky and sees a shooting star... well, we won't spoil the rest here. It's a wonderfully touching story that may just make you cry.
Creator Page Spotlight
Works would be nothing without the people who make them. This section highlights authors, artists, actors, musicians, and everyone else responsible for trope creation and proliferation.- Have you ever listened to a Christmas Song and thought it could be, well, more hardcore? Give the Trans-Siberian Orchestra a listen! They've made Epic Riff-filled Rock Opera takes on Christmas music their hat for many years. Need convincing? Check out their version of "Carol of the Bells", which makes the song sound like a boss battle.
Image of the Month
This section brings you the best of the recent selections from Image Pickin.
This issue's featured image comes from Avatar: The Last Airbender, and illustrates 11th-Hour Superpower.
Sometimes, a simple screenshot of a video game or TV show won't cut it when it comes to illustrating a trope. This might be because the image is unclear, or because it requires too many panels to illustrate properly, or because the sequence just looks better in motion. Take a trope like this, for instance: a good image should not only demonstrate the power in question, but also the fact that it only shows up right at the end of the story. This is where troper-made images come in.
This picture, made by fellow troper and aspiring imagebender Earnest, details Aang's journey throughout the events of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Using the clock as a Literal Metaphor, it shows us at which point in each season he gained each of his bending skills, including the ability to energy-bend right at the series' climax. Not only is it a smart way to illustrate the concept, it's also cleverly put together; using an image of Aang that prominently shows the arrow on his head is both hilarious and fits right in with the rest of the clock motifs in the image. Simple, effective, well-illustrated and with a wonderfully punny caption, it blows the competition out of the water and into the fire, and lands a spot as our Image of the Month.
This issue's featured image comes from Avatar: The Last Airbender, and illustrates 11th-Hour Superpower.
It took three seasons to master all four elements. That left one day to master the element of surprise.
Sometimes, a simple screenshot of a video game or TV show won't cut it when it comes to illustrating a trope. This might be because the image is unclear, or because it requires too many panels to illustrate properly, or because the sequence just looks better in motion. Take a trope like this, for instance: a good image should not only demonstrate the power in question, but also the fact that it only shows up right at the end of the story. This is where troper-made images come in.
This picture, made by fellow troper and aspiring imagebender Earnest, details Aang's journey throughout the events of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Using the clock as a Literal Metaphor, it shows us at which point in each season he gained each of his bending skills, including the ability to energy-bend right at the series' climax. Not only is it a smart way to illustrate the concept, it's also cleverly put together; using an image of Aang that prominently shows the arrow on his head is both hilarious and fits right in with the rest of the clock motifs in the image. Simple, effective, well-illustrated and with a wonderfully punny caption, it blows the competition out of the water and into the fire, and lands a spot as our Image of the Month.
Projects and Discussions
Forumwatch
Hey guys! Welcome back to Forumwatch! In this section, we'll be telling you about what's going on in the forums — interesting discussions that may be going on in Wiki Talk, some fun forum games, or lively debates going on in On-Topic Conversations, you name it!
- X Meets Y has been a fun way for Tropers to imagine works as combinations of other works. It's something that you and everyone else has thought of, and this site has given a place for you to play. However, it appears that these pages have had conflicts abound on them, concerning people arguing over what exactly the work is a combo of. Not only that, some works have been cluttered with ideas, resulting in messiness. If you have suggestions for how these pages can be cleaned up, go to the X Meets Y Nuances: ZCEs, Bloated Entries, and Fan Myopia thread and make your suggestions.
- December is host to many holidays. While Christmas is the most popular, others such as Chanukah exist, so it's not terribly fair for us to focus on just one. Many of these holidays are the result of years of tradition, often with beginnings in religious beliefs. If you are curious about where the myths and stories for these holidays come from, stop by The General Religion, Mythology, and Theology Thread and discuss. Religious and mythological stories are a deep rabbit hole, and one that you might find to be quite interesting!
- Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure Stone Ocean is being adapted into an anime, and naturally, all anime and manga fans are excited! JoJo's Bizarre Adventure has been running since the eighties, spawning multiple parts, and Stone Ocean is the sixth part. Not only that, this part has a female lead in a medium (and series) that often seems to lack strong women. If you want to show off your excitement, go to the Jojo's Bizarre Adventure thread and discuss anything JoJo related!
- Did you hear about that show? You know, that show! Everyone's talking about it! How do you not know what show we are talking about? Seriously, it's everywhere! You would have to be blind to not notice people talking about this show! We even have a thread on it! See, A fandom thread for a show that doesn't exist is booming, and you say that you didn't notice! What, I never said that the show was real, only that you didn't notice people were talking about it. I did nothing wrong here.
Trope/Article Changelog
This section covers renames, removals, redefinitions, hard-splits, merges, and wick cleaning. We'll try to keep you alerted to 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.
- Badass Beard and Badass Mustache were merged into a single trope about facial hair indicating masculinity, new name Manly Facial Hair, at this TRS thread.
- Hollywood Nerd has been turned into a disambiguation between Nerd, Hollywood Homely, Cool Loser, Nerds Are Sexy, Endearingly Dorky, and Adorkable, per TRS discussion.
- A Load Of Bull was renamed, due to the name inviting examples for non-humanoid bulls (which is Brutish Bulls). Thread.
- Something Completely Different has been made into an index, with the original idea (episode or installment in a series that breaks the series norm) getting transplanted to a new trope: Formula-Breaking Episode. TRS thread here.
- Due to misuse taking a broader definition, The Weird Al Effect is now Parody Displacement, taking the name from one of the trope's former redirects. TRS discussion.
- A major change on the wiki itself has been the crowners. While it primarily affects TRS and IP, plenty of people on the rest of the website noticed this as well. The administration has begun implementing a permanent solution to the Bibble Bobble error that has been plaguing the site intermittently for years now. With the code being rewritten, they are working to expand the crowners to be created and hooked by any editor, leaving the moderation only needing to approve/deny the crowners as they are made. Unfortunately, the current system has restricted all crowner creation to moderation-only. This is temporary, but has resulted in crowners being even harder to move forward with.
- So obviously, the moderation's solution was to invite more editors to join the moderation team! Please welcome 𝕋𝕒𝕓𝕤, GastonRabbit, MacronNotes, and of course, Chief Trope Report Officer Synchronicity (who somehow believes that being CTRO is more stressful than having moderation tools).
Pages Needing Help
This section highlights articles indexed on the Pages Needing Wiki Magic policy page and sub-pages. Such articles are, at best, under-performing 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 under-performing trope and work articles to see what improvements you can make to the page.
- December's birthday is Leonard Maltin, a film critic who we claim is about as influential as Roger Ebert, but whose article is much smaller. Part of that is because Ebert's description has bloated a bit and probably needs a trim, but that only emphasizes how substandard Maltin's page looks in comparison. It should be fairly easy to find his reviews and discover the narratives he made when summarizing his opinions of others' works. If you'd rather read his original works, he's written over a dozen books on the history of entertainment in some form or another. Maybe you should add one of those to your holiday gift wish-list to convince people that you're an erudite critic of cinematic history and that's why you want it.
- As we enter winter for the northern hemisphere, let's turn our attention to The Snow Queen (1977), an adaptation of the old Hans Christian Andersen tale, "The Snow Queen". If it seems somewhat common, that's because the Walt Disney Company did their usual thing and took some ideas from this story to generate a new Disney Princess, with Frozen (2013). The 1977 tale is very dissimilar to the Disney re-telling, being much closer to the original tale. The most important thing you can do for this page is to expand the existing trope examples with context and crosswicking. As a derivative work, it doesn't need to repeat any of the tropes from the original fairy tale, unless the work puts a different presentation on the events. Because the adaptation changes the medium from written word to a visual and auditory medium, there should be plenty of new tropes in those areas, if you're able to find the work online.
- Gift Shake has only 15 wicks to the page, despite having 20 examples on the page. The on-page examples also have some ZCE and indentation problems, but it seems an obvious enough trope to be finding examples of during the next several weeks. Have fun shaking your own gifts in whatever boxes they may come in!
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.
- We here at TV Tropes take Plagiarism very seriously. Copying and pasting text from the official work or another website is considered plagiarism, and is also unfortunately very common across the wiki. The Copy-Paste Cleanup Thread works to identify and fix pages that have copy-and-pasted text, along with directions for how to handle it if you, yourself, come across this problem.
- A Custom Title is when a work or trope title is altered after the fact to include special characters, numbers, or punctuation that otherwise wouldn't be possible. Unfortunately, there's been a recurring issue with custom titles being ill-thought-out, inconsistent with the rest of the wiki, or completely nonsensical. To discuss and help resolve these kinds of issues, visit the Wikiword / custom title discussion thread.
- The Roleplay/ namespace is a bit of an oddity compared to other work namespaces, as the roleplays themselves are often obscure or non-public, and the pages made by the players for other players. This has resulted in a lot of Roleplay/ pages being improperly formatted, error-ridden, and unable to be put on the mainspace wiki. To help resolve this issue, visit the Roleplay Cleanup and Maintenance Thread.
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. (Editor's note: he also made our snazzy new logo!)
- crazysamaritan has been preparing the decorations around the newspaper office, getting the coffee warmed up and new posters for the windows to showcase obscure tropes during the holidays. Geist-writing in the Wiki Changelog this month, in addition to their typical stub watch.
- FernandoLemon writes for the Image of the Month. He can most commonly be found in the Image Pickin' forums and occasionally at the Trope Repair Shop, and will be putting up his Christmas decorations on Immaculate Conception Day.
- Satoshi Bakura writes for Forumwatch. Their passive nature and busy college schedule often leaves them watching pages and forums without actually participating unless their interest has been sufficiently piqued.
- 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 the forums, TLP, and the pages for whatever work she's obsessed with this month.
- 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. She wants to wish everyone reading this Happy Holidays, Happy New Years, and a good 2022.
- 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.
- 𝕋𝕒𝕓𝕤 writes for the Obscure Trope Spotlight and Changelog sections.
- STARCRUSHER99 writes for the New Tropes spotlight, taking advantage of his time lurking in the TLP. Outside of Trope Report, he enjoys setting up his family's Christmas tree, searching his house all over for hidden presents, and editing whichever piece of fiction that he happens to be obsessed with that day, official or fan-made.
- plakythebirb, currently in the body of a penguin, usually writes for Works That Need a Page.
- MacronNotes is a guest contributor for this month who wrote for Obscure Tropes. 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.
- Excessive-Menace is a guest contributor for this month who writes for New Tropes. They mainly spend their time lurking and editing the wiki, as well as participating in ATT and writing for the Trope Pantheons project.
- Crimson Shark is a guest contributor for this month, working for the New Work Page Spotlight. His main activity on the site is contributing to the Trope Pantheons project, but he can also be seen lurking and contributing in the Image Pickin' section of the site as well as working to make new character pages for the Character-Specific Pages index.
- Twiddler makes sure our grammar is in order.
This edition of Trope Report is brought to you by Scrooge & Marley's, where this year, Mr. Scrooge is donating all of his profits to charity in order to celebrate his newfound love of the holiday!
Interested in becoming a contributor, or have suggestions for works or tropes to feature? Pop by the thread and let us know! We don't bite. (Much.)
and let us know! We don't bite. (Much.)