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Newsletter / News 2022-09

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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.

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.

September has arrived, do you remember? Fall is finally here (or spring, for our friends in the Southern Hemisphere), school is back, and Latin Americans will soon be celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month.

Seems like the site has recently attracted some media attention, too. Comic Book Resources published an article explaining a Simpsons theory from our WMG tab on the show, and the YouTube channel Drawfee made an awesome video where they turn random tropes into original characters. Very encouraging to see the site being discussed like this!

A new edition also means new wiki-wide changes: following the deprecation of the LetsPlay/ namespace a few months ago, three more namespaces have similarly fallen. LightNovel/, Wiki/ and Machinima/ are no longer considered valid, and pages are getting moved to other, more appropriate namespaces. As always, some popular old tropes have also been redefined by the Trope Repair Shop, including Ambiguous Disorder, Cry Cute and Absolute Cleavage.

So sit down, and enjoy our usual barrage of work and trope recommendations. Happy troping as always!

~FernandoLemon

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Tropes and Works

    Trope Spotlight 

Obscure Tropes

This section highlights older tropes that need a boost.
  • As many students in the Northern Hemisphere head back to school, we'd like you to please open your books to New Year, Same Class. This trope is about characters ending up in the same class together again when moving to a new year, even when there's a possibility they could have been split up. Launched in 2011, this page has only 30 wicks and no image.
  • Sapphire, the birthstone of September, is inextricably linked with the color blue. So are liquid absorbency tests in advertisements. Blue Liquid Absorbent draws attention to this advertising tendency to use blue-colored liquids as a stand-in for a variety of distinctly not-blue fluids. Despite being launched in 2010, the trope has not absorbed many examples or wicks.
  • September is International Hockey Month, so whether you enjoy the sport or not, you're probably expecting things in the rink to get a bit... violent. Hockey Fight is a very common stereotype about hockey and hockey players, and one that has been carried over into the media. Despite this, though, it only has 50 wicks — not bad by the standards of this section, but still low, considering how common it is otherwise.

New Tropes

This section brings attention to recently-launched tropes that could use a little help to really get rolling.
  • Autumn is traditionally the harvest season, and with the harvest, there's grapes, and with grapes, there's wine. In celebration for the year's produce, why not have an Old-Fashioned Fruit Stomping for tradition's sake? Launched on the 28th of August, it's a gungy, perhaps squicky, yet worthwhile activity for making homegrown juice.
  • So you're ready to write that intimate love scene before the summer's over, but one of your characters is either an alien, a monster, or a supernatural being. You had planned for that character be in A Form You Are Comfortable With, but then you thought to yourself, their partner might prefer that character to be their true self as they come Boldly Coming. In other words, their partner Prefers the True Form. Launched on the 31st of July, this would be ideal for summertime/back-to-school Paranormal Romance.
  • Ejection Seats and Escape Pods are there for your safety, saving you from imminent death should an emergency arise. That is, if they don't kill you in the process. Deadly Escape Mechanism covers such cases of emergency egresses gone awry, with almost as many Real Life examples as fictional ones. Launched out of TLP on August 1st, this trope's escape would have a higher chance of success with an image, a quote, and more fictional examples.
  • Everyone will have to go through death's door someday. Some people Face Death with Dignity, bowing out of life as gracefully as possible. Others, however, Face Death with Despair. They cry out loud, beg for their lives, and generally break down emotionally when faced with their mortality. For audiences and viewers, this can inspire feelings of sympathy and sadness for likeable characters or cathartic feelings for despicable villains. Launched on July 21, this trope could certainly have more exposure for being a common reaction to oncoming doom.

    Work Spotlight 

New Work Page Spotlight

This section covers newer work pages that could use a little help.
  • Secret Vampire is a YA Paranormal Romance/Urban Fantasy novel by L. J. Smith and the first in her Night World series. Published in 1996, Secret Vampire follows a girl named Poppy whose plans of confessing her feelings to her childhood friend James are dashed by a terminal cancer diagnosis. James reveals himself to be a vampire, offering to turn Poppy to save her from dying. This new work page would benefit from more tropes, an image, and a quote.
  • Get Married If You Can is a 2014 Romantic Comedy from Mexico, but that's about all the information the page provides for it. Lacking a description, image, crosswicks and subpages, this page, originally made on August 10th as Casese Quien Pueda, could use a lot of TLC if you can... and you certainly could, as the film is readily available online to check out if interested.

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.
  • Published starting in 1972, The Elric Saga by Michael Moorcock is one of the classic sword-and-sorcery epics that influenced Gary Gygax when creating the first version of Dungeons & Dragons. The stories follow Elric the albino sorcerer, last ruler of the cruel and decadent Melnibonéans, and his soul-stealing black sword Stormbringer, through many tales of dubious heroism, betrayal and revenge, and — most often — sorrow, as the sword that gives Elric his strength frequently exacts its terrible price. With only 429 wicks, this saga, the influence of which resonates throughout fantasy to this day, deserves more recognition for the debt it's owed.
  • Inherit the Earth is a 1994 Adventure Game by The Dreamers Guild and Wyrmkeep Entertainment. Set in a World of Funny Animals, the plot centers on Rif, a cunning fox who is tasked with recovering the Orb of Storms, a valuable artifact that was mysteriously stolen. Helping him are Eeah, an elk and Lieutenant of the Forest King; and Okk, a Sergeant of the Boar Guard. A short but sweet experience, it's worth checking out for its funny script and excellent voice acting.

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!
  • Omo Ghetto: The Saga is the highest-grossing film in Nollywood history. Released in 2020, this rowdy comedy follows gang leader Lefty and her ride-or-die girl gang in the ghetto of Lagos as they fight rival gangs, discover the truth about Lefty's boyfriend, and culture-clash with Lefty's posh family. Predominantly in Nigerian Pidgin with parts in English and other Nigerian languages, this movie is available with subtitles on streaming services.
  • Nothing Is Forgotten is an anthology comic book by Ryan Andrews consisting of four short stories originally published online: "Our Bloodstained Roof", a coming-of-age tale about three brothers whose lives are turned upside down when a flock of geese inexplicably splats upon their roof; "Sarah and the Seed", about an elderly woman who gives birth to a seed, much to her husband's cluelessness; "The Tunnel", about a man who finds a tunnel behind his bathroom wall; and "Nothing is Forgotten", about a boy who has to deal with having lost his father. The comics can be read here.

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.
  • Dekada '70 is a 1983 Tagalog-language novel and subsequent film adaptation (2002) that follows the middle-class Bartolome family's tribulations under the dictatorial regime of Ferdinand Marcos. Parents Amanda and Julian struggle to raise their five sons while simply trying to survive martial law and the human rights abuses committed under Marcos. Dekada '70 is particularly important to highlight this month, as September 21st marks the 50th anniversary of Marcos's imposition of martial law.
  • The Panchatantra (lit. "Five Treatises") is an Indian compilation of fables akin to Aesop's Fables. The stories tend to be Darker and Edgier than Aesop's because their intent was not to instill good morals, but rather to teach young princes to be wise and pragmatic rulers. Attributed to one Vishnu Sharma around 200 BCE, these Sanskrit-language tales are thought to be much older than that. They've since been translated into more than 50 languages, so you can likely pick up a copy in your native tongue.

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.
  • Max Charles is an American teenage actor. He is best known for voicing Kion in The Lion Guard and the titular character in Harvey Beaks. His page has a low wick count, and could be expanded to include trope examples and a description longer than a single sentence.
  • SHIT SQUARE ENIX!!! Yoko Taro is best known as the creator of Drakengard and NieR. His works are extremely bleak and have a lot to say about various aspects of the human condition. He is known for his quirkiness; his most iconic trait may be the stylized skull mask, modeled on that of a NieR character, that he wears in all of his public appearances. An unorthodox but masterful contributor to the JRPG genre, gamers would do themselves a disservice by missing out on his works.

    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 Paper Mario, and illustrates Healing Boss.

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bowser_heal_v1.png
Hey! Only heroes are supposed to do that!

Here's a tidbit that some tropers aren't aware of: even TLP drafts can pass by Image Pickin' if there's at least one suggestion to get the ball rolling. This is even recommended, since having a pic approved before launch will avoid the possibility of a bad image being added later. Plus, the regulars can chime in with their own suggestions — things you would've never even thought about.

Sure enough, that was the case when this trope got sent to IP, but there's another reason why getting a hand from the regulars can be helpful: you don't have to get things right on the first try. This pic started as just an idea, then passed through two iterations (here◊ and here◊) until it took on its current shape, thanks to all the suggestions on how to improve the initial concept. The final result contains all the necessary cues to demonstrate the trope: the two panels and the Life Meters within them help the image flow well, the heart icon can be understood as a universal symbol for healing and, even outside of being a recognizable character, Bowser is large and intimidating enough to be quickly identifiable as a boss. Good job, team!

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!
  • Here on TV Tropes, some articles have Real Life subsections, dealing with uses of tropes in Real Life. We also have a No Real Life Examples, Please! policy for pages with questionable Real Life sections. However, a debate is ongoing in Wiki Talk about some of the problems with the policy—including whether or not we should even have Real Life examples. If you'd like to offer your thoughts or ideas concerning this topic, head on over to The NRLEP criteria thread!
  • Coming up with names for tropes can be difficult sometimes. Following the famous principle of Clear, Concise, Witty, trope names should be easy to understand first, and clever references second. Sure, we all know who The Grinch is, but does something like The Ruri (old name for Little Miss Snarker) mean anything to anyone?note  If you want to eschew this rule altogether, you should check out Trope Namer Syndrome - The Game!, where there's no such thing as bad trope names and any trope can be renamed to anything you want.
  • In recent months, there have been discussions in Ask The Tropers and Wiki Talk about the pronouns that should be used to refer to characters with Ambiguous Genders and Gender Identities. It was decided that the Toaster should be referred to with he/him pronouns, and Snapdragon with they/them pronouns. However, most of these discussions have taken over these forums, with numerous threads created for each character. To reduce the number of threads created for these discussions, a general thread, titled Character pronoun and identity discussion, has been created. If you are familiar with any works needing discussion, come to the thread. While you can suggest that the thread review certain characters, do note that the thread only works on one character at a time.
  • On this wiki, nobody starts out perfect. You might have done some weird thing on TV Tropes some time ago, and now you are living to regret that thing. Don't worry, because everyone has their own old troper shames, so if you want to share yours, discuss it at Your early troper shames.

    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.

    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.
  • Happy 30th birthday to actor Danny Ramirez, known for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Top Gun: Maverick. While his page lists his roles, it lacks tropes and a description beyond a single sentence.
  • Three Busy Debras is a adult comedy series featuring three housewives (all named Debra) and their general activities...which get as weird as you can expect from a show that aired on [adult swim]. The show's page has barely more than a paragraph in its description, and only nine tropes. While the show had a short run of 16 episodes, even one of those should be able to provide more tropes than what the page currently has.
  • Rhythm Typewriter, a trope about typewriters being used as percussion instruments, has amassed only 12 wicks since its launch in 2009. Its on-page examples run the gamut of context quality.

    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 have many pages on various television shows and media aimed at younger, preschool-aged viewers. Unfortunately, these pages often suffer from many problems, including over-analysis and misused darker tropes added to make shows seem more appealing to older audiences, large amounts of complaining on more poorly received shows, and general issues with formatting, Natter, and Zero-Context Examples. If you'd like to help clean up these issues and more, head on over to the Preschool shows cleanup thread!
  • Sometimes, when a film is released in theaters, there's a good chance it'll flunk, hence the trivia item Box Office Bomb. However, the item has seen misuse, for the standards of what qualifies as a bomb isn't clear sometimes, and films "just not making enough profit" isn't usually enough. The Box Office Bomb cleanup aims to clean up the misuse the item has received.
  • Who doesn't love dinosaurs? If you're a paleontology fan, then you're probably aware of how confusing and complicated the science can be at times, which isn't helped by many people taking sides on what various dinosaurs looked and acted like. This means a lot of paleontology-related works are a hotbed for edit warring and debating. Unfortunately, a lot of normal cleanup editors don't know much about dinosaurs, so if you're passionate about these things and want to help resolve problems at the same time, stop by the Paleontology/Dinosauroid Fact Checking thread.
  • The Evil Genius trope is currently being retooled into a super-trope for other tropes about intelligent villains. If you want to help, please stop by the TRS thread!

    Know the Contributors 
  • FernandoLemon writes for Work Spotlight and Image of the Month, and produced this month's opener. He's saluting all the Latin Americans who are celebrating Hispanic Heritage 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.
  • Debra— wait, no, plakythebirb usually writes for Works That Need a Page.
  • Excessive-Menace writes for the New Tropes section. 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'.
  • 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 enthusiastic contributor to the Pages Needing Help and Spotlight sections.
  • alnair20aug93 is guest contributing for the New/Obscure tropes section.
  • Chloe Jessica writes for Work Spotlight and Creator Spotlight, and can be found on ATT and assisting in cleanup efforts as well as playing a forum game or two.
  • Twiddler makes sure our grammar is in order.
This edition of Trope Report is brought to you by De La Vega Bodega. Whether you're getting your light-and-sweet morning coffee, a bottle of cold champagne, or a lottery ticket (and a chance to win $96,000!), we're glad that you decided to stop by our little northern Manhattan barrio!

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.)

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