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.
Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Happy Kwanzaa! And for the rest of us, Happy Festivus! Whichever holiday you celebrate, everyone's welcome here.
A lot has gone on in TV Tropes. While the messaging system has gotten tweaks (including a preview when hovering over the message title), we had a major database update. You can read the details here
. In addition, three new engineers have joined the staff. Please congratulate Morgan Wick, Adept, and Ayumi-chan!
The Trope Repair Shop has gotten busy as well, with changes to major tropes such as Archer Archetype, Feelies, and Cool Guns.
Happy troping!
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Tropes and Works
Trope Spotlight
Obscure Tropes
This section highlights older tropes that need a boost.- Sometimes, those of us who celebrate Christmas will gather around the table for some Christmas ham. Here at TV Tropes, we do like ourselves some Large Ham. Why settle for one when you can bring The Ham Squad? This group of scenery-chewing performers formed in 2018, but they only have 27 members. Enrollment is always open.
- When branding for Christmas, not everyone will associate the holiday with Jesus and the manger. Corporations will often use the more secular icons, such as Santa Claus and snow, in order to draw in customers, in a phenomenon called Commercialized Christmas. The trope took off in 2009 as Green Christmas before it was rebranded in 2019. Only 33 wicks have been sold, so it's always on the lookout for new consumers.
- The new year is rapidly approaching, and the Earth will be getting close to the Sun. So close, in fact, that one may be compelled to try and Grasp the Sun. Some fictional characters are so powerful that they can hold the Sun in their hand and take it out of the sky. We've only shed this trope's light onto 59 pages so far; why not see how much further this trope can reach?
- If you need a disguise for whatever reason, it is also important to change your voice in order to make it more convincing. Hence why, when your real voice is revealed, a Shocking Voice Identity Reveal is soon to follow. The trope only has 46 wicks across the wiki, so being able to discover and learn about this mysterious yet familiar voice is granted to be a surprise.
New Tropes
This section brings attention to recently-launched tropes that could use a little help to really get rolling.- As the holidays arrive, most of us will be bundling up and staying cozy. Those south of the equator, however, are cooling off and may go for a swim at the beach or pool, as they await the arrival of summer. Those that are more adventurous will opt for a Mermaiding Swimsuit to evoke the appearance of a mermaid. This trope started making waves on November 3, so there's plenty of time to dive for some more.
- However, even those south of the equator can suffer from the scorching summer heat, and they too are Dreaming of a White Christmas. If a character desires to live in a climate either warmer or cooler than where they are right now, they may be a Thermal Dissident. When this trope is in use, it can also affect the character's behavior and the way they dress in their current climate. Launched on November 5, it would be cool if more examples were discovered and listed.
Work Spotlight
New Work Page Spotlight
This section covers newer work pages that could use a little help.- Dad'X is a French cartoon from 1998, named after the show's version of Santa Claus who resides on the North Pole of Christmas Planet instead of Earth. Never heard of it? Don't be surprised; it got pulled after only one season, and physical tapes as well as online clips are very scarce. It's so obscure that online reuploads are what mainly help the show from becoming completely lost. There are only 26 episodes, so what better page to contribute to on Christmas month than one of the most obscure Christmas-themed shows ever?
- Migi & Dali is a manga by Nami Sano (of Haven't You Heard? I'm Sakamoto fame) that was adapted into an anime, and her final work before passing away in August this year. The manga follows the titular twins, who get adopted by an elderly couple in order to investigate their mother's murder, with the two pretending to be one boy named "Hitori". The page was created back in October, so it could use more help, like crosswicking.
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.- The Gagharv Trilogy is a trilogy of PC-98 games developed by Falcom as part of the larger The Legend Of Heroes and Dragon Slayer series. The games take place on three continents separated by a large gaping chasm named the Gagharv, with each game taking place on one of the continents. While not very well known, many elements of the trilogy would be later implemented in LoH's later installment, the Trails Series. While there is an official translation of the PlayStation Portable ports by Bandai, they aren't highly regarded by fans. With both the announcement of a Fan Translation of the PC-98 version of The White Witch (aka Prophecy of the Moonlight Witch) by The Geofront (the cool folks who made the Zero/Azure translation) and Falcom announcing a mobile port of all games with a localization, it's time for this page to be given some much needed cleaning, including fixing ZCEs and giving it a proper description.
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!- Lebanon Hanover is the gothic duo consisting of Larissa Iceglass and William Maybelline. Since 2010, they have been crafting dark romantic melodies, with English and German weaved into their lyrics. December 2012 saw the release of the music video for their most popular song yet, "Gallowdance". The world is getting colder this month, so don't let them be alien to this wiki. Why not just... make their work page?
- Are you going caroling this year? If so, why not spice up your repertoire with something more modern? "Rappin For Jesus" is a modern classic by American pastor Jim Colerick and his wife Mary Sue. Featuring a sick flow, a strong message against drugs and excellent use of modern slang, the track has caught the world by storm with over 80 million views on YouTube, and can be watched here.
- Charley Harper is a nature artist like no other. Instead of realistic illustrations of animals, Harper's illustrations use a geometric yet elaborate style that is a true feast for the eyes. Given how birds tend to appear in Christmas illustrations, and how December 8th is Charley Harper Day, this would be the perfect month to give this creator a page.
Non-English Work Spotlight
The wiki may be in English, but that doesn't mean non-English media are any less important! This section focuses on works that may have a language barrier to deal with — but are worth it if you do.- Wolf's Rain is a 2003 anime series by Keiko Nobumoto, head writer of Cowboy Bebop. The series is set near the end of the world, which came about due to ongoing war between nobles. While wolves are believed to have gone extinct, they have actually learned to disguise themselves from humans using illusions. The plot follows a pack of four wolves—Kiba, Hige, Toboe and Tsume—as they follow the scent of lunar flowers, which is prophesied to lead them to paradise. Eventually they meet Cheza, the flower maiden who will guide them there. Featuring beautiful animation, great action scenes, a well-developed Ensemble Cast and a lot of Tear Jerking moments, the show's wintery theme makes it an ideal watch for this time of the year.
- Blade of the Moon Princess was released in Japan from 2010 to 2012, but is only just now being localized in English. It's written and illustrated by Tatsuya Endo of Spy X Family fame, and was originally published in Jump Square. The story follows Princess Kaguya, the heir to the Lunar Empire, who is known as a stubborn, bratty, temperamental child — not at all the type of person suited to take the throne some day. When a rogue branch of the family throws a coup, Kaguya is sent to Earth in order to keep the royal blade safe and learn to be a true queen. The second English volume is being released this month, so it's the perfect time to pick up the story and follow her adventure.
- Las Fierbinți is an ongoing Romanian series created by Mimi Brănescu and directed by Dragoș Buliga and Constantin Popescu. It premiered on Pro TV on the 1st of March, 2012. The series is set in a rural place in Fierbinti and mostly focuses on the day-to-day lives of the citizens, especially the mayor Vasile and the bar owner Bobiță. So, why not check it out if you are a fan of sitcoms?
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.- Hi, it's Vince Offer with Trope Report. Gifting season is upon us, so why not pick up something that I have shown on TV? For the chef in your life, pick up the Slap Chop or Crank Chop! For those that deal with fluids, try the ShamWow! For those with pets that shed a lot, go for the Schticky! Got a music lover that's a fan of Eminem? I advertised Recovery, one of his albums! Whichever you pick, they will love my products!
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 Incidental Comics, and illustrates No Antagonist.
This issue's featured image comes from Incidental Comics, and illustrates No Antagonist.
Lack of opposition ≠ no problems whatsoever. Checkmate, salvation.
This was a month with some pretty big image changes, which included new images for The Ditz and Affably Evil. But out of all of these changes, this one was certainly the best.
So, how do you go about making a story without an antagonist? Well, the previous image
◊, which hailed from Requiem for a Dream, showed one way to play this trope, which was "man vs. self": the conflict between a man and his inner (metaphorical) demons, be they loneliness, depression, addiction or anything in between. But there are many more ways that this trope can be played, and that's where the new image succeeds: it is simply much better at showing the trope's full breadth.
This new pic originates from a larger comic by Grant Snider and focuses on all types of conflict, whether they lack an antagonist or not, as well as their appropriate literary periods. It is through this that we see that this trope is much more common in modern and postmodern literature, as classic literature was much more likely to use Black-and-White Morality. Some other ways a story can work without an antagonist include "man vs. reality", which tends to be told Through the Eyes of Madness and feature a protagonist battling their own insanity, and "man vs. no god", where the protagonist faces a crisis of belief. Couple this with a quirky, newspaper-esque art style, and there was nothing to rival this pic 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!
- Dear Santa,
It's us. Listen, all we want for Christmas is a great forum game to suggest to some of our readers during our Christmas issue.
Love, Taylor Von Trope and the Trope Report team
Dear Taylor Von Trope and the Trope Report team,
All I have is Children's Letters to Santa, but it's genuinely a really fun game! In this thread, tropers roleplay as Santa, who is to satirically respond to the Christmas gift request in the above post, before roleplaying as another person and asking Santa for any gift, so the next player's Santa can critique their gift choice. Here you go, now scram! You are all wasting my time!
Love, Santa - We all know that Christmas is coming around the corner, but do you ever wish there was a thread to celebrate that wonderful festive holiday? Worry no more: we recommend to you Merry Christmas! Just come to the thread near and/or on December 25th, and spread some cheer!
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.
- Archer Archetype will be renamed to Aloof Archer to clarify that the trope is about cold, stoic archers as opposed to archers in general. TRS thread here.
- Bleached Underpants had its description clarified to refer to NSFW works getting toned down in later versions, and will be renamed to Self-Censored Release. TRS thread here.
- Cool Guns has been disambiguated for not being tropeworthy. TRS thread here.
- Dramatica has been moved from the Main/ namespace to Website/. TRS thread.
- Feelies is now classified as Trivia, as it involves merchandise that comes packaged with a work. TRS thread here.
- Homoerotic Dream will be renamed Awkwardly Gay Dream to invite clearer example writeups. Characters that are already established to be gay before having the dream are now explicitly disallowed. TRS thread.
- As part of the Shipping Goggles discussion, Mistaken for Romance's definition was expanded to allow examples where a "pair" with no relationship or an antagonistic relationship are thought to be in a romance. Previously, the definition required them to love each other already but not in a romantic way. TRS thread.
- Multi Ethnic Name was turned into a disambiguation page after "character with mixed culture/language name" was deemed People Sit on Chairs. TRS thread.
- Seinfeld Is Unfunny was renamed to Once Original, Now Common due to the new name being more descriptive of what the trope is about, while the old name attracted misuse and complaining. TRS thread here.
- Shiny Sense has been redirected to Notice This, as it was not thriving and redundant. 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's birthday is Kaori Yuki, a dark Shoujo mangaka who created works such as Angel Sanctuary, Ludwig Revolution, and Fairy Cube. For someone known for highly detailed art in her work, her page's description is anything but. Some examples are also hidden due to lacking context.
- Hana Awase is an Otome Game quadrilogy developed by Enterbrain! and WoGa and published by Dramatic Create, with an English localization by both them and Manga Gamer released in October 2023. The story follows a high-school student named Mikoto with an interest in hanafuda (traditional Japanese playing cards) as she enrolls at Kasen National Academy, a school that enriches the talent of those using hanafuda cards in a game called Kasen. This newly created page suffers from both ZCEs and a lack of crosswicking, so it would be appreciated if the page were given a cleaning.
- Soapbox Square talks about landmarks and other locations in which people gather to give speeches. They are also a popular meeting spot for those in protest. Today, they gather to address wick starvation, as they only have 15 wicks. They also rally for description refinement.
Project Spotlight
Looking for a project to dedicate some time to, but not comfortable jumping into large threads? Here are some smaller projects, or more recent discussions, in need of a few more hands.
- The Amazing Digital Circus quickly became one of the most popular indie web animations this year, reaching over one hundred million views in its first month alone. Unfortunately, this also brings in a lot of shoehorning and trope misuse. If you can, hop by the Amazing Digital Cleanup thread and help out.
- Among Cartoon Network's lineup, Adventure Time is definitely one of the most beloved out there. With its charming characters and fun, often surreal plots, it's loved by many, young and old. However, since the page's inception, it's suffered problems like ZCEs, natter, and violations of Examples Are Not Recent. So, can you come along and hop by the Adventure Time cleanup?
- Quite a few Haiku pages from the Haiku-Wiki, which is a holdover from when TV Tropes had lower standards in the past, are of low quality. If you want to help clean up potentially bad Haiku examples, you can join the Haiku-Wiki Cleanup thread to help out.
Know the Contributors
- FernandoLemon writes for Work Spotlight and Image of the Month. He will be celebrating Christmas with his family as per usual.
- War Jay 77 is enjoying the holiday (but not the snow!) and wrote for Trope Spotlight and Work Spotlight this month.
- 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 wrote for the Changelog this month.
- Christmas Chicken plakythebirb writes for Works That Need a Page.
- callmeamuffin is keeping himself warm and toasty in front of the fireplace with a mug of hot chocolate, topped with marshmallows and whipped cream, for December, after writing for this month's Trope Spotlight and Forumwatch.
- Berrenta wrote for Trope Spotlight, Creator Spotlight and Pages Needing Help, while also covering for the Changelog. She also dusted off her old art skills for this month's logo. Her elves are hard at work delivering gifts and cleaning wicks for TRS.
- Cutegirl920fire has fallen into a food coma from her Thanksgiving dinner and was unable to contribute this month.
- Black Faith Star wrote for New Work Page Spotlight and Works That Need a Page. When she is online, she tends to her own work page projects, and can be found in cleanup or Forum Games threads.
- Ayumi-chan decided to sail the Trope Report seas due to the chilly weather. While sailing, she decided to finish her game backlog, and after returning to shore, she returned home for a big Christmas dinner.
- Cardboard Bot used to draw art for Trope Report and designed the mascot, along with the default image.
- Twiddler makes sure our grammar is in order.
- Trope Reporter (real name Taylor Von Trope) is the mascot for Trope Report whose likeness became a plushie for this edition's image.
- Adembergz is a guest contributor for this edition, pitching a non-English work.
This edition of Trope Report is brought to you by Izel's Workshop. Looking for new thrills when you're out and about alpine climbing? Ask Izel to install some rockets on your snowboard, or just buy a wingsuit and do loop-de-loops in the air. When you're looking for gadgets, Izel's your gal!
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.)