Does this make sense to anybody?: Evil Seed Plot

1. The title is nondescriptive.

2. The description doesn't seem entirely sure what the actual trope is.

3. The examples don't seem to have any kind of strong, unifying connection.

There's a part of me that wants to just Cut List it, but I'll give it a chance to make its case.

Looks like a premature launch - perhaps sending it back to YKTTW is in order.

I'd agree that a bump back to YKTTW with a note that it doesn't need more examples, it needs a clearer definition and better description would probably be worth trying before we cutlist it. I looked at the archived YKTTW and out of 21 replies, not one was anything other than adding examples.

Hello,

I don't mean to sound confrontational but, as this has been in YKTTW for a while. Can I just get feedback now then change it?

and to address Ryusui's concerns:

1. a antagonist creates his own body, like a seed only evil and it takes place as a plot.
2. the source of the evil seed doesn't matter so long as the bad guy creates his body is the plot instead of some vague ability on his or her part.
3. No strong unifying connection?

• Hardware: a Wetware CPU skull has a bit more life than previously imagined,
  • it creates it's own body out of scrap
• Hellraiser: Frank Cotton built his body from a single drop of blood (and a few bystanders).
• SWAT Kats: the episode known as Unlikely Alloys has a tiny repair robot balloon up to Very Humongous Mecha size after assimilating alot of technology, then it's creator.

edited 23rd May '11 12:41:25 PM by GiantSpaceChinchilla

Feedback is perfectly acceptable - we aren't trying to be mean; we're just trying to make each trope the best it can be.

Point #1 is the most important - it wasn't at all clear from the description that was the idea behind the trope. The trope definition needs much more meat on it - particularly if you want to show that this is rather distinct from From a Single Cell or Gotta Catch Them All (which seem to me to be the two different ways one could accomplish this - either growth or parts acquisition).

A different trope name may also be apt, to be honest. From the way it's described, the "seed" metaphor doesn't quite fit. Beyond that, is there something that really restricts this to just the bad guys? It seems to me that it should be doable for good guys as well (even if I can't come up with an immediate example) - removing the "evil" from the name may also be needed.

Thank you,

I'm open to renaming suggestions and redirects, however as of this righting I'm only aware of two examples that aren't right out evil. The Monkey King from Journey To The West and Petey from Schlock Mercenary, while they can do some questionable things they're still protagonist. would Heroic Seed Plot fit?

As for a description would this be okay?

Seeds, they're small and weak. given time and some luck they can find enough resources to become less small and weak. sometimes, however, the seed is evil perhaps it's a robot with a Heart Drive, a ghost Possessing someone, or an alien who can regenerate From a Single Cell.

That's not what's important, what's important is that said seed is building it's own body to perform evil deeds and that it takes place as the plot of a episode, series, or story. Also, please note that while it's common for a villian to perform a seed plot, a hero is not barred this ability.

The problem with calling it a "Plot" is that implies the entire story is based around it - many of the examples you've given are one-off instances.

It needs to be more tightly defined: what you're going for here is not "a story where the villain builds its own body", but just "the trope where the villain builds its own body" - it's a story element, not a "Plot" in and of itself.

Perhaps Self Made Monster?

Maybe Self Made Being instead - robots are possible candidates for this trope, and tropes with "monster" in the title are magnets for controversy and misuse.

Is Self Made Being different enough to be distinct from Self-Made Man?

or should I try something to do with Corporeal?

Well, Self-Made Man is about someone who becomes rich, successful, prominent, etc. via their own efforts - completely different from this trope. That said, the name similarity is a bit too close and probably would result in some misuse.

Not only that, but upon further consideration it seems that it isn't necessarily self-built; minions, friends, helpers, partners, and dupes could all be involved.

Constructing A Consciousness Housing? I'm failing at concise trope titles today.

Would Corpus Construction make sense? I could do something with cadmus sowing the dragon's teeth but that seems unscannable.

or we could go with Self Constructed Being.

edited 23rd May '11 7:56:39 PM by GiantSpaceChinchilla

Self-Constructed Being?

I've added a redirect for Self-Constructed Being and will start going through the links, is the new description sufficent?

Edit: is it possible to switch Self-Constructed Being with Evil Seed Plot or would a mod have to do it?

edited 24th May '11 9:20:25 PM by GiantSpaceChinchilla

Our move tool is quite primitive: just copy and paste.

A bit late to the party, I realize, but I still have to say it:

Evil Seed Plot would make a great trope title for a sentient garden with dubious intentions.

I've switched the main and alt titles, is the discription sufficent?

You'll also want to use the "notify mods" tool to get the mods to mobe the discussion page.

GSC, Even though this is a small trope and we're not running a formal crowner it would have been appropriate to say you wanted to make the change and give folks some time to object and/or propose better alternatives, if they were fixing to do so.

Are people cool with the new name?

No objections here.

I apologize, since I was the sponsor? ... lancher? ... whatever and the TR-tropers were sugesting a rename and giving me feedback on the name, it just seems approprate to go ahead.

Makes sense — no big problem. Looks like we've got no objections so that's all cool. I moved the old discussion over, added a comment with a link to the old YKKTW and added a note to Renamed Tropes. There are no subpages to move over this time. I popped the old title on to the Cut List since it was so new and hadn't collected inbounds.

Good stuff. Lockin' on up.