WMG / [Work Name]

Pre-release and upcoming episodes

Theory that an upcoming work will feature <something it'll almost certainly feature>

Theory that an upcoming work will feature <something it'll almost certainly not feature>

Sad statement about how awesome it would be if it came true in spite of how unlikely it is. There's a chance, right? RIGHT?!

• Statement, when the work comes out, that it's Jossed.

Theory that the main characters in an Author Tract will do something ridiculously extremist, even by the work's standards

Elaboration that sort of justifies why they'd do that.

• Pointless response that adds nothing to the theory, and only serves to bash the author's views.

Speculation that the work will be a critical and commercial failure

Long list of complaints This Troper has about the work, and insistence that most people agree that these things are bad enough to ruin the work's reputation. The whole WMG is just the whining of a troper who hates the (unreleased) work and desperately wants to see it crash and burn.

• Extra bullet point that only serves to help This Troper fantasize about how the work will be a Franchise Killer and Creator Killer, putting a stop to the show I don't like and its annoying fans once and for all!

Speculation about potential plots for the Grand Finale

Narmfully Darker and Edgier plot where a character that This Troper doesn't like is revealed to have been the true villain all along and mercilessly murders The Scrappy to prove it, but the heroes then trick him into committing suicide by exploiting his (severely Flanderized) flaws. This Troper forgot that the show is for kids and just wrote this as a revenge fantasy against the characters he doesn't like.

"Speculation" about a leaked episode.

Explanation that's literally just spoilers from the leak.

Lengthy list of things the work can possibly feature.

Lots of text.

Completely baseless synopsis of the entire work that you know is ridiculous but leaves you a little bummed out when it actually releases.

Post-release

Theory that Work A and Work B take place in the same universe.

Including theory that character from Work A somehow became character in Work B. Similarities between Work A and Work B pointed out.

Theory that two characters from unrelated shows are the same character...

...only because they share an actor, share one or a few character traits, or only because they share names.

Theory about how this character is a Time Lord and their Iconic Item (or, failing that, a random item they've ever been in the same scene as) is their TARDIS.

Incredibly flimsy explanation which makes it sound like the theorist has no idea what the phrases "this person is a Time Lord" and "this item is their TARDIS" actually mean and possibly hasn't even seen Doctor Who.

Theory about how this character is Haruhi Suzumiya.

More really bad explanations go here.

Theory about how this character is Nyarlathotep.

Nothing is complete with a reference to cult horror writer H. P. Lovecraft, better known for creating the giant squid monster Cthulhu.

Related theory that the entire series either takes place within Shinji Ikari's mind, or takes place during Instrumentality.

Because everything has to be somehow connected to Doctor Who, Haruhi Suzumiya, Cthulhu Mythos, or Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Theory about how this character is literally God/Jesus/Satan

Probably written by someone whose knowledge of theology is rudimentary at best.

Just a theory and no explanation.

• Sarcastic response implying a preference for elaboration.
  • More pointless Natter.

Claim that the show is All Just a Dream of one character.

Another really bad explanation.

Claim that the main character is insane, and the entire story is all just a hallucination.

Totally not the same as the above, right?

Claim that everything past a certain point is a Dying Dream.

Possibly claiming that everyone died in the first episode, or even before. They may even be lost souls wandering around in the afterlife.

Claim that deceased character is actually Not Quite Dead.

Points out that they Never Found the Body, or goes against evidence that they really are Killed Off for Real.

Anything else from Stock Epileptic Trees.

List tying everyone to the Seven Deadly Sins.

Exaggerates character traits or takes a one-off event as a regular thing to force square characters into a round sin. Character got slightly angry once? Wrath! Character legitimately loves some other characters (in a platonic way)? Lust! Big Eater? Gluttony!

• Envy: Shoehorned WMG trying to extrapolate that Character A must be jealous of Character B because B is more successful in their career/is in a happy relationship/whatever, even if no canonical evidence points that way.
• Gluttony: Usually just the fattest character or anyone who moderately likes food, ignoring that "Gluttony" can refer to overconsumption of things besides food.
• Greed: Any character who engages in the slightest Conspicuous Consumption or even has a moderate amount of financial stability.
• Lust: Anyone who has the mildest crush on anyone else gets damned for lust, or anyone who Really Gets Around even if that's portrayed as a good thing in canon.
• Pride: The Leader gets shoehorned into Pride often enough.
• Sloth: Since sloth is the only sin characterized by a lack of action rather than an action, sloth tends to take any characters not shoehorned elsewhere.
• Wrath: Tends to go to whoever is most grumpy, whether or not they're actually aggressive or violent.

Theory that is really just wishful thinking.

Most likely referring to events that the Troper wanted to happen, but didn't at all.

Another theory that is just wishful thinking...

...but instead relies on convoluted re-interpretation of the events which happened that are the complete opposite of what the author intended to portray.

Blatantly canon WMG.

Convoluted explanation.

• Sarcastic expression of disbelief.

Jossed WMG.

...that a Troper posts not knowing it's been Jossed.

• Indication and example showing that the WMG was Jossed.
  • Statement of embarrassment.
    • Convoluted explanation by another poster who likes the idea, attempting to get round the fact, invoking Death of the Author.
  • Another explanation that proceeds to explain how the alleged "Jossing" was itself Jossed by a contradictory plot element elsewhere in the series, conveniently ignoring that this was most likely a run-of-the-mill Plot Hole.

Confirmed WMG.

Every once in a while, a Troper is lucky enough to guess what happens correctly. Though they may have just picked up on some fairly obvious (if not easily predictable) Foreshadowing.

Claims most of the plot is an Evil Plan of the Plucky Comic Relief.

Half-assed explanation for this.

Claims that something awesome is powered by Spiral Energy.

Explanation that since it is awesome, it must be powered by Spiral Energy.

Claims that good guy is a traitor.

Extremely convoluted explanation including things not actually in the work and taking everything they do as evidence against them.

Claim that the Big Bad is somehow related to the main character.

Ignoring the mountains of evidence against it.

Claim that a shy nerd on the show has autism.

Long explanation using circumstantial evidence that could describe anybody who is introverted or has low self-confidence.

Shipping claims.

Made by someone who desperately wants these characters to be together.

Interesting, original, and plausible theory.

With lots of explanation that makes it easy for this to be believed. On the other hand...

Theory related to above theory.

Which proposes that the complete opposite is also true.

• Corollary proposing a similar theory.

Theory contradicting the above theory.

Convoluted, yet easy-to-believe theory about how this is possible.

[[wmg Improperly coded example]] made by somebody who doesn't know what they're doing.

Theory that sounds really cool and brilliant in the mind of the Troper who posted it.

Troper is deeply disappointed when no one comments on the theory.

Theory that really fits a particular work.

Troper realizes after the fact that he just edited the wrong tab...

Theory that the hero is actually a villain and/or vice versa.

Convoluted reasoning that ignores big chunks of canon and invents several other facts out of whole cloth. A number of the invented facts directly contradict established canon.

Theory related to an above theory.

Which proposes the exact same thing as a result of not checking the page thoroughly enough.

Theory that comes with no explanation or any sort of evidence, just this one line of text.

Genuinely well-written and well thought-out example

..which will get buried in all the other guesses.

If this WMG page is divided into separate pages, but there's still a main page for miscellaneous guesses..

...then something that really should belong on one of the sub-pages.

OBVIOUSLY CANON WMG BY NEW TROPER CANT USE GRAMMUR!!!!!!!111

Theory that male character is female

States facts that show it's a possibility, but states no facts that give proof

Half-assed, reluctant WMG which violates the Programme Note.

"It's not likely but I might as well put it out there" or something similar.

Overly long theory written as a continuous wall-of-text that should be broken down into paragraphs, which you read the first sentence of and decide to skip.

First sentence that actually makes you really excited to read the theory, with lots of clauses seperated by commas, which you begin to get mildly suspicious of, due to the slightly worrying amount of commas, seriously, I'm, not even, sure that this is, grammatically correct anymore. Acknowledgement that the writer just made a joke. Boring description of joke which links to Don't Explain the Joke. Sentence in which the writer realises that they have gone on a tangent, and lenghty apology for said tangent, followed by comment on trigonometry due to the word 'tangent'. Completely random proof of Pythagoras's Theorem that has no relation to the WMG whatsoever. Sentence about how it's all a government conspiracy, because when was the last time you saw a squirrel blink?Conclusion to theory that you read after completely skipping the rest of it, seeing as the conclusion summarises the whole thing anyway.

Theory that is amazingly believable in every way, except for one very important fact that sinks it entirely

Vague Hand Wave of how that one very important fact actually doesn't mean anything.

Direct copy-paste of a script from an episode of Protomario, Game Theory, Gnoggin, or similar.

No reference to the original video whatsoever.

Deliberately ridiculous and sarcastic theory referencing one of Protomario, Game Theory, Gnoggin, or similar's videos, just to bash them for believing such a thing.

A sentence split into two potholes, one to the page of the show in question and the other to Sarcasm Mode or Deadpan Snarker.

A really long, incredibly complex theory, extremely likely using unnecessary Purple Prose, all written entirely in the title header of the theory, even though it would be far, far better and easier to read in the more reasonably-sized font of the space below.

Single sentence where the actual theory should be, saying "Just because it's complicated doesn't mean it's not true" or "It's not been Jossed yet, so...".

Surprisingly good theory

That you probably won't read because you gave up on finding anything worthwhile on this page at least a dozen entries ago.

Claim that the story is being told by Character X, who is probably an Unreliable Narrator

Claim that if the work is canonically narrated by X, they're unreliable even though such is never hinted in the work.
Claim that if X is canonically an Unreliable Narrator, they're lying about different things than are implied.
Claim that character X is narrating a story that involves narration by character Y... only that both X and Y are unreliable, and lying about different things than are implied.

Claim that the entire work is an Author Tract in support of a controversial opinion

Disregarding any Word of God claim to the contrary.

Claim that a fantasy setting is Earth All Along, either far in the future or far in the past

Bad explanation grasping at straws to find similarities between Earth and a bizarre Constructed World, which totally proves they're the same.

"Theory" that's little more than an excuse to bash the work

Usually on the form "the author made it bad on purpose to be a Troll", "it's supposed to be Stylistic Suck", "they were going for So Bad, It's Good", "the creator was intentionally trying to ruin the series or franchise", etc. If the work pushes a viewpoint, the author will be accused of actually holding the opposite viewpoint and pulling a False Flag Operation to make their opponents look ridiculous.

Incomprehensible theory

If it tries to explain the events of a Mind Screw work, it'll instead leave you even more confused.

Theory blatantly overanalyzing something straightforward

Wall of Text about how Winnie the Pooh supposedly symbolizes the duality of life and death. May or may not be posted ironically.

Five dozen pages of random, mutually contradictory theories about a Mind Screw work

Annoyingly believable Poison Oak Epileptic Trees

Obvious joke theory

Deliberately absurd supporting evidence.

• Even more absurd counter-theory with no supporting evidence.

Mis-formatted WMG header

Someone typed it out as !! instead of [[WMG:]].

• A second-level bullet-point (**) is added instead of a first-level bullet-point (*).

Synopsis for a Crack Fic I'm too lazy to write

WMG that was deleted because the one who wrote it is ashamed of it

Theory that all of the above theories are true simultaneously.

No matter how contradictory and absurd said assertion would be. It doesn't try very hard to explain itself and is probably a joke.