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.
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.
August can be a pretty boring month, but what is exciting is that this month marks Trope Report's 20th issue!
Moving on to recent events, one major change that has happened on the forums is the overhaul of the Content Violations subforum. Works that potentially violate our Content Policy now have their own dedicated review threads where all users are welcome to participate. Feel free to check out our Forumwatch section for more information.
Other notable changes that have happened over the course of last month are major TRS decisions that have completely overhauled well-established tropes like Nice Hat, Both Sides Have a Point, Would Hit a Girl, Unfortunate Implications, and Grumpy Bear. More info regarding those changes can be found in our Changelog section.
Happy troping as always!
open/close all folders
Tropes and Works
Trope Spotlight
Obscure Tropes
This section highlights older tropes that need a boost.- August may not have a lot of massive holidays, but it does have International Beer Day. When celebrating this holiday, people will of course be drinking both lager and ale. In fiction, however, All Beer Is Ale. This trope, launched in 2012, focuses on the tendency for fiction to only focus on European-style ale, thanks to the influences of writers such as Tolkien. The page is underperforming despite the trope's prevalence, with only 35 wicks over the course of a decade.
- In honor of August's former status as the sixth month of the Roman calendar, we're giving a shout-out to There Is No Rule Six. This comedy trope is about items on a list that assert their own nonexistence. Say, for instance, that the sixth item on a list of rules is that "There is no rule six." Though launched in 2009, this trope has only 23 wicks.
New Tropes
This section brings attention to recently-launched tropes that could use a little help to really get rolling.- August marks the last month of winter in Brazil. Though Carnival is half a year away in summery February, there's no time like the present to practice your Samba skills. An Afro-Brazilian music genre hailing from Rio de Janeiro, samba is known for its fun and danceable rhythms. In the century since its inception, samba music and dance have become an iconic part of Brazilian culture. This trope donned its dancing shoes on May 30, but would strongly benefit from more examples joining its parade.
- A person, or perhaps a group of people are going about their ordinary day: attending school, going to work, shopping for clothes, taking walks in the park... all mundane activities. What they aren't aware of is that this will be their Last Day of Normalcy, for their lives will suddenly take a turn for the bizarre, fantastical, or dangerous, kickstarting their involvement in the story. While a common way to introduce the protagonist in media, the page for this trope was only recently launched on June 24.
- Ah, diplomacy. The delicate, delicate art of managing relations between nations. While most geopolitical dealings happen publicly and officially, this is not always the case. Should messages of a more clandestine nature need to be passed, the Diplomatic Back Channel comes into play. This so-called "back channel" encompasses all unofficial communications between nations. Launched on June 26, this trope's been kept so secret that its dossier has remained thin.
Work Spotlight
New Work Page Spotlight
This section covers newer work pages that could use a little help.- Quiz & Dragons is a 1992 Capcom trivia quiz arcade game with board game elements in a fantasy setting. The plot follows four warriors sent by the King to defeat an evil dragon who devours anyone who fails to answer his questions. As the page on the game is very new, it could use more tropes, a detailed description, and a page quote.
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.- Two detectives working Manhattan's 14th Precinct: one's a reserved career woman, the other's a lively working mother. This is Cagney & Lacey. Airing from 1982–1988, this groundbreaking Buddy Cop Show starred Tyne Daly and Sharon Gless as they tackled crime in the streets of New York. The work page is in need of a quote and expanded tropes list, which can be remedied by a retro TV binge.
- The Last Express is a 1997 Adventure Game by Jordan Mechner (of Prince of Persia fame). Robert Cath, an American doctor and fugitive of the law, illegally boards the Orient Express to meet up with his friend Tyler Whitney, only to find him dead in his room. Cath then decides to assume his identity in order to piece together who killed him and finish any unfinished business he may have had by talking to the other passengers and eavesdropping on their conversations, since he's also fluent in French, German and Russian. Notable for its innovative real-time mechanics, rotoscoped graphics including an accurate portrayal of the titular train, and multilingual script that touches upon many complex themes, the game is now regarded as a classic among adventure game aficionados.
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!- Flocabulary is a school-oriented music project and website that teaches various subjects through educational hip-hop songs... and does it far better than you'd expect most educational music projects to. With praise from popular musicians such as Snoop Dogg, and an audience that can be summarized as "anyone in U.S. public school during the late 2010s", it's surprising that this work doesn't have a page.
- SpongeBob Conspiracy is a popular web series by one Alex Bale, who also created Pizza Time Pizza. However, this series isn't just about dark SpongeBob SquarePants theories. It's a small part of a broader Alternate Reality Game known as The Muse ARG. The lack of a page for the broader ARG is noticeable, and so is the lack of a page on Alex Bale himself, as Spongebob Conspiracy is currently discussing both the wider story and the theory videos, and could use a split of some sort.
- Um, Actually is a Game Show that originally started on CollegeHumor. The concept is simple: the host, Mike Trapp, reads a statement containing a fact about a famous work. The statement features an incorrect detail, and it's up to the contestants to correct it, a setup that often leads to much Conversational Troping. All corrections must be preceded by the titular phrase, or else they don't count. Other minigames are also played in the form of "Shiny Questions", and the last statement will always concern real life skills. Um, actually, why hasn't anyone made a page for it 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.- Interstella 5555 is an anime film by Toei Animation that doubles as an Animated Music Video to French music duo Daft Punk's Discovery album. It tells the story of Arpegius, Octave, Stella and Baryl, a band of alien musicians who are abducted and mind-controlled into believing that they are human and performing as The Crescendolls, while another alien named Shep tries to rescue them from their kidnapper, the Earl of Darkwood. If you're in the mood for some electronic dance music, the film serves as a nice companion piece to the album.
- Indonesia is the world's fourth most populous country, yet Indonesian Media remains under-appreciated on TV Tropes. Enter Adit & Sopo Jarwo, an animated children's show that premiered in 2014, which follows the adventures of a boy named Adit and his friends as they run into conflict with Sopo and Jarwo, a pair of unscrupulous adults also living in their Jakarta suburb. Many of its 40+ episodes are available on YouTube, some with English subtitles
.
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.- Mamoru Hosoda is an anime film director and the founder of Studio Chizu, known for films such as Summer Wars, Wolf Children and Belle. His movies have gained a following thanks to their Scenery Porn and Central Theme of family, and one was even nominated for an Academy Award For Best Animated Feature.
- Clamavi de Profundis is an American family folk group. They mostly perform original, fantasy-themed songs that tell stories of dwarves, orcs and demons, but have also composed other songs such as Chieftain, a series about a tribe of vikings. Their most popular works are their original takes on some of Tolkien's poems. If you're interested, you can give them a listen here.
Image of the Month
This section brings you the best selections of the past month from Image Pickin.
This issue's featured image comes from Dick, and illustrates Flag Bikini.
This issue's featured image comes from Dick, and illustrates Flag Bikini.
When it comes to illustrating tropes at Image Pickin', it sometimes can feel as if images from hand-drawn or animated works — be it comics, stills from animated films or other such artwork — are the favorites, and it's not like this reputation is unmerited. These kinds of pics allow for a level of creativity and visual spectacle that is not easy to reproduce in live-action pics. So it would make logical sense that the latter would shine brightest at the other end of the spectrum: when it comes to demonstrating simple concepts.
Wearing a bikini emblazoned with your country's flag is not a difficult trope to understand: it's a common tactic for showing off a character's patriotism while providing the viewer with fanservice. Of course, since Tropes Are Flexible, the clothes in question don't necessarily have to strictly be a bra-and-panties set — other revealing garments such as crop tops or shorts will do. There is also a fine line to walk when it comes to illustrating fanservice tropes: the outfits must be revealing enough to make the point of the trope obvious, while not being overtly so. Sure enough, the film's costume designer Deborah Everton succeeded at both of these points when she created this pair of outfits that, in-universe, were made out of an American flag. Finally, some minor background details such as The White House help make the pic more interesting to look at. A landslide victory!
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!
- Do you have original characters? Do you like roleplaying games? There's been a few character development games in the Writer's Block subforum, and the most recent is the Character Hilbert Inn — a strange hotel with seemingly infinite rooms and space for characters across the multiverse. There's no requirement for entry, but it's recommended you catch up on the most recent posts before jumping in. Otherwise, have fun!
- Recently, there has been debate about the various "X Episode" tropes we have, such as Barbershop Episode, The Doll Episode, Heist Episode, and so on. The tropeworthiness of these items has been questioned, along with whether or not we can just turn these concepts into more clearly defined, tropeworthier concepts. If you'd like to share your thoughts, head on over to the "X Episode" Tropes thread!
- As a decision to clear up the backlog accumulated from the Content Violation Report system, the moderators decided in the Content Policy thread that unresolved and new reports on pages deemed problematic would get their own threads in the Content Violation Discussions forum, akin to the system that was utilized before it was replaced with the CVR system. There are loads of threads for pages and works that need inspection for pure porn or pedophile-pandering content, but unlike the former thread system, everyone may participate in these threads, so long as they are kept on-topic. If you are familiar with the Content Policy, join the forum!
- For a few months, there has been discussion in Wiki Talk regarding "Works About X" indexes. Many of these indexes seem to be used to list works which happen to have a character that the indexes talk about, regardless of whether the plots revolve around these characters or not. Additionally, many tropers believe these indexes are redundant with other tropes and indexes, and are creating index bloat. That said, some of the indexes are legitimate genres and are keepers, but the actions that are to be taken with the other indexes are under debate. If you would like to help out, join the "Works About X" indexes discussion.
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.
- Both Sides Have a Point is now In-Universe Examples Only, and the definition has been modified to "allow instances of both sides agreeing with each other in a conflict". This is due to heavy misuse. TRS thread here.
- The Bus Came Back has been expanded to "cover all cases where a character returns after a long absence". This is due to heavy misuse. TRS thread here.
- Courtroom Antic's current definition will be moved to the trope Unconventional Courtroom Tactics and the name Courtroom Antics reused for a supertrope for wacky, outrageous courtroom proceedings. This is due to misuse for "courtroom antics happen". TRS thread here.
- Fatal Attraction is being renamed and the definition is being expanded to include some of the misuse. Specifically, the trope now covers relationships between criminals and both their victims and any government or law enforcement individuals. This is due to misuse for "a dangerous or doomed (potential) relationship" and an unclear name. TRS thread here.
- Fauxba Fett has been disambiguated due to misuse for any characters with superficial similarities to Boba Fett. TRS thread here.
- Flagship Franchise will be merged with Cash-Cow Franchise due to misuse, ZCE attraction, and overlap with the mentioned trope. TRS thread here.
- Furry Confusion has been rewritten, and now only covers the criteria listed in this post due to misuse for any work where anthropomorphic and non-anthropomorphic animals exist, along with overlap with Carnivore Confusion. TRS thread here.
- Grumpy Bear has been disambiguated, with the original definition being sent to the Trope Idea Salvage Yard due to heavy misuse for any grumpy character. TRS thread here, new TLP draft covering the concept here.
- Nice Hat has been disambiguated due to being a non-tropeworthy list of hats that tropers like. TRS thread here.
- Polygon Ceiling has been merged with Video Game 3D Leap, with the original name being cut. This is due to being a duplicate of Video Game 3D Leap, but "done poorly", which is not a tropeworthy distinction per The Same, but More. TRS thread here.
- Puzzlement About Payment has been cut and sent to the Trope Idea Salvage Yard because it wasn't thriving on the wiki. TRS thread.
- Pyrrhic Villainy will be merged with Pyrrhic Victory due to "Pyrrhic Victory + villain" not having a meaningful distinction.
- Simple Staff has been disambiguated, with the trope itself being limited to staves used for martial arts and renamed to Martial Arts Staff. This is due to a vague definition leading to use for what actually fits Magic Staff. TRS thread here.
- Talent Show Version was cut for not thriving on the wiki and for being a specific form of Talent Show. TRS thread.
- The Tetris Effect has been made In-Universe Examples Only—viewer examples are now forbidden. This is due to it having been treated as an objective trope despite not affecting the work itself, but rather the viewer/player. TRS discussion.
- Unfortunate Implications has been marked as Flame Bait due to several problems, chief among them issues with determining the validity of sources, along with a proliferation of uncited examples despite that being a requirement of the trope. TRS thread here.
- Unrelated Effects has been cut due to a lack of wicks. TRS thread here.
- Whooshing Credits was cut and yarded because it wasn't thriving on the wiki. TRS thread.
- Would Hit a Girl will be rewritten to require contextualizing why examples are noteworthy and require being seen In-Universe as a step too far, amongst several other changes. This is due to the previous definition being deemed not tropeworthy and leading to examples where any female character is hit. Full details in the TRS thread here.
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.
- This month we're celebrating the birthday of actress Briana Venskus, known for her work on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and The Walking Dead. Though her page has a list of roles, it lacks a photo, tropes, and a biography longer than a single sentence.
- Sci-fi legend Philip K. Dick's short story "Autofac" reports a PRODUCT DEFICIENCY, lacking a quote and image. Though 25 pages is an admittedly short work to parse, the page would also benefit from more examples. "Autofac" can be read in its entirety here.
- Though Goblin Face's ugly mug has been live for nearly two years, this documentation of exaggeratedly wrinkled "goblin-esque" facial expressions has only garnered 21 wicks and remains quoteless. By all means, go forth and get ugly with it.
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.
- Balloon Belly is a trope about characters receiving large stomachs after a short amount of time, usually from eating too much food. However, due to the overlap with a common fetish, the trope has attracted gushy, overly detailed NSFW examples. The Balloon Belly cleanup thread aims to clean and rewrite these examples, as well as remove misuse.
- The Web Original namespace has often been the victim of low-quality work pages, many of which are also in the wrong namespace to boot. If you want to help with sorting these, drop by the Web Original namespace cleanup thread!
- So you want to... help with a cleanup? The So You Want To namespace is supposed to be a helpful place for writing tips, advice, and so on. Unfortunately it has suffered from many problems, including gushing, complaining, walls of text, and poor writing in general. If you'd like to assist, head on over!
- Values Dissonance, Deliberate Values Dissonance, Fair for Its Day, and Values Resonance are YMMV items about moral values. Unfortunately, they have been frequently misused. The Values Dissonance/Resonance cleanup thread aims to help clean up said misuse and shoehorning. If you want to help, head on over!
Know the Contributors
- FernandoLemon writes for Work Spotlight and Image of the Month. He still wants to thank Kappaclystica for her work as the previous curator for Image of the Month.
- War Jay 77 contributed to the Trope Spotlight, Forumwatch, and Works Needing A Page sections this month. 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.
- 𝕋𝕒𝕓𝕤 writes for the Obscure Trope Spotlight and Changelog sections.
- plakythebirb is an obscure school mascot (may or may not be a bird) that usually writes for Works That Need a Page.
- Excessive-Menace writes for the New Tropes sections. They mainly spend their time lurking and editing the wiki, as well as participating in ATT and writing for the Trope Pantheons project.
- The Mayor of Simpleton wrote for the Changelog, Projects Spotlight, and Forumwatch this edition. He mostly participates in the Project Threads, TRS, Trope and Wiki Talk, sometimes ATT, and occasionally Image Pickin'.
- MacronNotes contributed to the Changelog and description sections for this edition. 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.
- callmeamuffin generally writes partially for Forumwatch and Project Spotlight. Outside of Trope Report, you might find him participating in the Forum Games, Trope Repair Shop, and Image Pickin' forums. You might also find he removes wicks to disambiguation pages, but sometimes, they keep on reappearing again...
- Yindee is an excited first-time contributor to the Pages Needing Help and Spotlight sections.
- Twiddler makes sure our grammar is in order.
This edition of Trope Report is brought to you by The SOS Brigade! If you have ever experienced something mysterious, make sure to contact us, and we will help you solve it! And if you are an alien, esper or time traveler, help us save the world from boredom by having fun with us!Kyon-kun, denwa!
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.)