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.
The New Year has come again, and for the Year of the Water Rabbit, and Pantone choosing magenta as its Color of the Year, it's time for the gym bunnies to wear magenta as they burn down that excess Christmas gut.
On December 18, Trope Report's resident proofreader, Twiddler, became a moderator. Wiki-related changes include TRS decisions that overhauled well-established pages like Names The Same, the season-specific sub-indexes of Anime and Manga of the 2010s, The Chick, Off-Model, Speedrun, and We All Live in America, while the Everything You Wanted to Know About Changing Names policy page was renamed to Trope Renaming Guidelines via the Outdated Administrivia Pages thread for the sake of brevity and clarity.
The changes made to Names The Same, which primarily involved disambiguating it due to concerns that it lacked meaning, were determined to be major enough that a bulletin was posted by the moderators to ask the community as a whole to help with the cleanup effort, though the concept itself lives on through a forum game called the The Names The Same game
.
Happy troping as always!
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Tropes and Works
Trope Spotlight
Obscure Tropes
This section highlights older tropes that need a boost.- Now that we're in the New Year, we can look back on the things we did the year before... and find ways to be better in the future. If you're looking for something to add to your list of resolutions, why not start with trying to beef up the trope for the very concept? New Year's Resolution has been around since 2010, but has less than 80 wicks, a strangely low number for something so popular.
- January 19 is National Popcorn Day in the United States. An enduring and readily microwaveable snack, popcorn is a specific type of corn that lends itself to this kernel explosion. Despite this, media often treats any corn as being capable of this transformation, resulting in the Popcorn on the Cob gag. Though this trope was cooked up in 2011, it has only 45 wicks, and additionally lacks an image and quote.
- So, you know when you go back home to avoid some problem, and then it crops up again over there? Or when a fly manages to get inside before you close the door? When that cat still wants more food, follows you home, meows outside, and scratches your door? When you want to stop hearing about something so you leave the place you keep on finding it, yet the person you live with is also raving about it? When you're always followed by something bad you want to get away from, even to your own home? Seems like you have a case of Trouble Follows You Home. Despite being made in 2009, alongside being listed as one of the Universal Tropes, it only has 33 wicks! It also lacks an image and a quote. Perhaps the trouble can be cleaned up at the page, the trope's home, and be left somewhere from which it cannot follow the trope back again?
New Tropes
This section brings attention to recently-launched tropes that could use a little help to really get rolling.- 2022 just ended, and probably with a lot of parties, music, and celebration before the new year begins. If enough people were singing along, then you could say that the year ended with a Big Finale Crowd Song. This trope launched on November 30th, and while it's a common enough trope, it could use more examples and crosswicks.
- A gallant knight, a scrappy cowboy, or what have you dashes off on their loyal equine steed... And yet when the horse returns, the rider is strangely absent from the saddle. When a Horse Returns Without Rider, that's often a sign that a terrible fate has fallen upon whoever rode it. This trope launched on November 12, and with only a paltry 13 wicks, it can certainly go on more rodeos.
- Had too much of a colorful Food Porn-tastic New Year dinner, with honey-glazed roast marinated with the juiciest cranberry juice, the creamiest golden potato salad, complemented with the freshest Caesar salad and the most sparkling blueberry wine, and Skittles-sprinkled rainbow cake for dessert? Careful not to spew your Rainbow Puke all over the polished floor from all of that colorful feasting. This trope launched on December 18th. Best to reserve that multicolored regurgitation for the bathroom.
Work Spotlight
New Work Page Spotlight
This section covers newer work pages that could use a little help.- My Beloved Mother is an award-winning 2004 Manhua about a boy named Sinbell, who — like other orphans — was given a robot mother after being orphaned at a young age. Though his robo-mom cares for him like a real mother, Sinbell is ashamed of her and flees to the city in an attempt to find the mother he believes is still alive. A Tear Jerker of a story, it has been translated into multiple languages, including English.
- Russian folktale "The Frost, the Sun, and the Wind" follows a traveler's encounter with the titular three entities and the ensuing fallout of them not knowing which one the man had bowed to in greeting. The tale is short in length, yet the page could stand to be augmented further with an image and quote.
- Pedestal is the latest RPG Maker game from somewhat notable Explorer Horror creator Uri, and her first non-horror game, released in English last month. A mystery adventure, it follows Aoi Ooe, head (and only member) of the newspaper club of Cosmos' Girls Academy, as she and her best friend Akari Abe investigate the supposed suicide of School Idol Shiori Natsume, questioning her friends and family to piece together her life story and uncovering a web of secrets.
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.- Goblin Market is a Victorian-era Narrative Poem by Christina Rossetti. It tells the story of Laura and Lizzie, two sisters who are tempted by goblins into buying and consuming their exotic and addicting fruit, and the tragedy that unfolds when, despite Lizzie's insistence not to, Laura ends up eating some. Famously illustrated by Christina's brother Dante Gabriel, the work has become a staple of sapphic poetry due to common interpretations as a story about lesbian love.
- VESZTESEG is a collection of surreal Roblox games about Mirror Man and a rock named Jesu. Well, maybe it's more than that. There are a bunch of other, bigger rocks. These rocks will either help you, kill you, or whatever. Yeah, there's also some random more important rock named Cheeky. There's a bit of Hungarian in it too, for some reason. The plot is really up to interpretation. While it has gained traction every once in a while due to how unusual it is compared to other games on Roblox (most Roblox users are children, not enjoyers of surrealism, mystery and horror), it has remained mostly unknown. The group behind it, M U G E N, is still active and continues to make games. Compared to the main game's "79 fates" gimmick which alters every run, making it a new experience 79 times over, the work page itself pales in comparison. Perhaps you can roll it to new horizons...just don't go insane from the spheres : ) .
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!- For our Australian readers, January is Back To School month, and one book the older grades might be reading in English class is Jasper Jones, a 2009 Australian novel by Craig Silvey. Set in the 1960s in the rural town of Corrigan, Western Australia, 13-year-old Charlie Bucktin discovers the body of Laura Wishart, the eldest daughter of the town's mayor. Jasper Jones, a half-Indigenous boy with a bad reputation, is deemed a culprit by the townspeople after they discover that Laura has gone missing. While the book has been shortlisted for a few awards and received a film adaptation in 2017, the work doesn't have a page on this wiki yet.
- Some people may choose to stop using tobacco products as their New Year's resolution... which may be hastened by exposure to weird and disturbing PSAs. The Real Cost is a anti-tobacco campaign from the FDA that has produced many public service announcement adverts and a video game. Despite how common their ads are, and this website's proclivity for creepy PSAs, the campaign doesn't have 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.- Orangina is a French brand of orange juice that's best remembered thanks to its ad campaigns, both print and on television. For the most part, they are simply satires of other types of products (such as deodorant, aftershave, clothing detergent, and floor cleaner), but what really drove these ads to fame is their cast of Funny Animals who wear Stripperiffic outfits and do activities in an oddly sexual manner. Naturally, despite some controversies, this has gained the ads a cult following due to their boldness.
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.- Aaron Tveit is an American actor. Earning his Star-Making Role in theater as Gabe Goodman in Next to Normal, he later went on to lead two other highly acclaimed musicals, playing the role of Frank Abagnale Jr. in Catch Me If You Can and Christian in Moulin Rouge!, the latter of which even won him a Tony Award. He has also branched into film and television; fans of Les Misérables' 2012 film adaptation will recognize him as Enjolras.
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 Sukia, and illustrates Naughty Tentacles.
And now, to celebrate the New Year, we will take one last look at the pics chosen throughout 2022 and name one as the Image of the Year.
This issue's featured image comes from Sukia, and illustrates Naughty Tentacles.
Just happy to lend a tentacle and apply sunscreen, ma'am.
If you've been on the wiki for a while, you are probably familiar with The Content Policy, which details how works of a certain nature are not welcome here. This actually wasn't the case back in the site's earliest days, where any work could have a page, but this change was not self-motivated. Instead, it came about after a very messy moment in the site's history.
In 2010, in what is now known as The Google Incident, the wiki ran into some trouble with Google, where ads were suspended indefinitely due to the site's noncompliance with Google's policies on Not Safe for Work content. Since the wiki relies on ads to generate the revenue necessary to keep it afloat, any page with adult content was put behind a curtain with ads disabled. However, that proved to not be enough, as ads were once again suspended in 2012 following a complaint about the Naughty Tentacles page, an event now referred to as The Second Google Incident. This led to a site-wide purge of any pornographic content and the creation of the 5P.
All this to say, any potential image for this page would have to tread a very fine line in order to be accepted. Can it be done? Yes, some other pages that had previously been barred from having pics such as Sideboob, Naked Apron and Lingerie Scene later received strong enough suggestions to overturn that ban. And this image achieved that by being a combination of just clean enough and bluntly illustrative. Let's just hope Google is okay with this.
And now, to celebrate the New Year, we will take one last look at the pics chosen throughout 2022 and name one as the Image of the Year.
Researching the history behind each pic is always a joy to do. So this one—which was our Image of the Month just two issues ago—won because it represents the two things that this section is most about: celebrating great art making its way onto the wiki and shining a light on artists who could do with more love. Thank you so much, Kugatsu-hime.
~FernandoLemon
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!
- You know those Meme Slander videos where they play GIFs relating to whatever tidbit of a certain topic the video is making fun of? Well, minus the GIFs, you can particulate in a forum version of that meme format for this very wiki, over at the TV Tropes Slander thread! Make fun of aspects of the site, such as the site's spaghetti code, certain editing practices, tomfoolery on other threads, and so on!
- Names The Same may have been disambiguated, but that doesn't mean a thread based around the concept can't continue. A forum game called The Names The Same game has recently gained some attention this month. In the thread, a troper must respond to the character name in the post above by posting the name of a character who shares that name. Then, they close off their post with the name of a different character with a different name for the next troper. If you miss Names The Same, then this forum game can serve as a great alternative.
- Recently, in the Trope Launch Pad, there have been many new tropes launched about stock depictions of animals, such as those that would be seen in a cartoon. Some of these tropes include Cartoon Whale, Cartoon Penguin, and Green Gators. However, the tropeworthiness of these tropes has been questioned, along with their attraction of Zero-Context Examples, the questionable noteworthiness of their examples, and an overabundance of questionable subtropes for the overarching concept. If you'd like to join the discussion to offer your thoughts, head on over to the "Stock Animal" tropes thread in Trope Talk!
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.
- The season-specific subpages of Anime of the 2010snote were redirected to the main index, Anime and Manga of the 2010s. TRS thread here.
- Arbitrary Maximum Range and Arbitrary Minimum Range have been merged into a single trope under the name Arbitrary Weapon Range because it was determined that the split between minimum and maximum ranges was not a sufficient reason to split the two. TRS thread here.
- Bath Kick was redirected to Leg Focus due to concerns over tropeworthiness and the fact that Leg Focus was determined to already be sufficient for fanservice shots. TRS thread here.
- The Chick has been disambiguated due to concerns of redundancy with other tropes, particularly The Heart. TRS thread here.
- Classic Video Game "Screw You"s has been merged with Scrappy Mechanic and cut due to concerns regarding complaining and redundancy. TRS thread here.
- Coitus Ensues was renamed to Sex Starts, Story Stops because it was being misused for sex scenes in general, when it's more specifically about sex scenes that interrupt the plot. Sex Scene, which was originally a redirect to this trope, was turned into a disambiguation page between multiple sex scene–related tropes, including Sex Starts, Story Stops, due to that redirect more closely matching misuse than the actual definition. TRS thread here.
- Everything You Wanted to Know About Changing Names was renamed to Trope Renaming Guidelines for the sake of brevity and clarity, particularly because the old name for the policy page didn't make it clear that it was specifically about trope names.
- Gender Neutral Writing is being split between Gender-Inclusive Writing and Gender-Concealing Writing due to concerns that gender-neutral writing isn't a trope on its own. In addition, Gender Misdirection will be merged into Gender-Concealing Writing due to redundancy concerns with the proposed split and a relatively low wick count. TRS thread here.
- Genre Title Grab Bag now redirects to Title Tropes. It was an index with very few items, to the point where it was deemed not worth keeping. TRS thread here.
- House Rules was split between in-universe examples (retaining the House Rules title) and Audience Reactions. New drafts were created to cover related tropes: Ascended House Rules (sister to Ascended Fanon), Nebulous Ruleset (traditional games with no unified ruleset), Official Game Variant, and Popular Game Variant (unofficial variants that become widespread). TRS thread here.
- Let's Have a Cèilidh was merged with its supertrope, Dances and Balls, due to a lack of wicks and tropability. TRS thread here.
- Names The Same has been disambiguated between other name-related pages due to inconsistent use and shoehorns for common names. TRS thread here.
- Off-Model is now a definition-only page due to a combination of misuse and overlap with other tropes and Trivia items, which are now listed on the page. TRS thread here.
- Period Fic will have its definition modified to cover stories featuring historical Elseworlds and be renamed to Historical AU for clarity. TRS thread here.
- Selective Localisation was sent to the Trope Idea Salvage Yard due to a lack of wicks. TRS thread here.
- Sexy Walk will be renamed to Supermodel Strut due to misuse, as well as rewritten to better indicate that it's a deliberate choice on the character's part that indicates confidence. TRS thread here.
- Sneeze of Doom's definition—an inopportune/disastrously-timed sneeze—will be transplanted to the name Ill-Timed Sneeze, and the current title used for powerful/dangerous sneezes. TRS thread here.
- Speedrun has been turned into a Definition-Only Page due it being determined that it's better off classified as terminology instead of a trope. TRS thread here.
- We All Live in America was expanded to cover creators inaccurately portraying portions of foreign countries' cultures as similar to their own country's culture despite real life differences. The previous definition required the portrayal of the entirety of a foreign country's culture as similar to the creator's own. In addition, the trope will be renamed to Creator's Culture Carryover to discourage misuse. TRS thread here.
- Widow Woman was disambiguated between various widow-related tropes because it was determined to not be a trope, and Determined Widow was redirected to the newly disambiguated page. 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.
- January's birthday is English painter Thomas Davidson (1842–1919), best known for his naval scenes. He also painted episodes from Brönte novels such as Emily's Wuthering Heights and Charlotte's Jane Eyre. Davidson's page could stand to be augmented with a longer description, a fuller list of works, a quote, and tropes.
- The Lord of the Rings: Conquest is a game from the seventh console generation based on the Lord of the Rings franchise. However, it has no description at all, the laconic needs to be reforged, and some more precious tropes and wicks will be needed. So, why not venture forth and lend a hand?
- Storm in a Teacup is a plot trope about a character failing to get a task done in time, only for it to be revealed that their efforts to rectify the solution weren't needed. This trope has been on the wiki for at least a decade, but only has 7 examples and 4 wicks.
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.
- ♫Is there something strange... on a Related page? Who you gonna call? Ghost Wick Removal!♫
Sometimes during wick cleaning, you might stumble upon a wick that leads to a non-existent page. Although these issues can be resolved by creating and cutlisting such pages, it can become problematic if the non-existent page is under the Main namespace. In such cases, come visit this thread in order to get those wicks removed. - Back in October, the project threads for Complete Monster and Magnificent Bastard were locked, and tropers were directed to a wiki talk thread in order to determine how best to resolve the issues that caused the threads to be locked. One of the solutions was that each thread would be split into a cleanup thread and an approval thread. The cleanup threads for both have now been re-launched. If you'd like to help remove any unapproved entries, clean up entries that seem poorly written, or debate whether a character's entry should be cut, visit the new Complete Monster Cleanup and Magnificent Bastard Cleanup threads!
- The Loud House is a long-running Nicktoon. However, the show's pages are prone to shoehorns and complaining by overzealous editors and fans. If you'd like to help with the ongoing cleanup efforts, please drop by The Loud House Cleanup thread.
- Want to clean up messy trope entries with unnecessary words and extraneous information? Come to the Word Cruft thread to help trim and organize writeups.
Know the Contributors
- FernandoLemon writes for Work Spotlight and Image of the Month. He's unsure if he believes in New Year's resolutions.
- War Jay 77 contributed to the Trope Spotlight and Project Spotlight 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. Her New Year's Resolutions this year include becoming a more confident driver, getting a second job, and finally getting an apartment with her boyfriend.
- 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 Changelog section.
- plakythebirb, someone with the Least Removable Jaw, 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 Forumwatch this edition. He mostly participates in the Project Threads, TRS, Trope and Wiki Talk, sometimes ATT, and occasionally Image Pickin'. For his New Year's resolution, he wants to do a lot of things, but for his bio he is going to highlight finally watching all of the IMDb Top 250.
- callmeamuffin generally writes for Forumwatch and Project Spotlight, and sometimes for Work 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 a contributor to the Pages Needing Help and Spotlight sections, finding enjoyment in locating obscure pages. May the new year bring good health and happiness to you and yours.
- MacronNotes contributed to the Pages Needing Help section this month. She spends most of her time on Wiki Talk, TRS, and other parts of the site. January is her birth month but she hasn't figured out how to celebrate it yet.
- Berrenta assisted with the Changelog section and is a guest contributor to Pages Needing Help for this edition. She is often found assisting with cleanup threads and wick checks, and watches over TRS.
- GastonRabbit writes for the Changelog, since he mostly moderates TRS, and tries to add changes after giving the go-ahead to make them. His New Year's resolution is to be careful what he wishes for after his wish from last month's issue came true with the caveat of ridiculously low temperatures.
- SkyCat32 is a guest contributor for the Project Spotlight this month. Sky can be found on multiple project threads, as well as the Trope Launch Pad.
- Cutegirl920fire wrote for the Forumwatch while she read up more on historical women. Her New Year's resolution is to get onto her webtoon some way or another.
- Cardboard Bot designed the logo for this month's issue, along with being the one who wrote the VEZSTESEG and Trouble Follows You Home paragraphs. He also contributes to the Trope Pantheons and illustrates some TLPs. He plans to illustrate even more tropes for the new year.
- Palindromee created the Trope-tan design Cardboard Bot used in the logo for this month's issue.
- Master N contributed to the New Work Pages Spotlight section.
- alnair20aug93 is an orange cat who guest writes for the New and Obscure Tropes sections.
- Twiddler makes sure our grammar is in order.
Oh hi, reader; I didn't know it was you! This edition of Trope Report is brought to you by Anniversary Flowers & Gifts. Is your girlfriend mad because you didn't get that promotion at work? Get her a dozen red roses for only $18, and stop to say hi to the doggie on the way. You're my favorite customer!
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.)