Rename: Sailor Earth

and : You're both missing the point. Some people have claimed in this thread that "Sailor Earth" is a commonly accepted term for this phenomenon. I have looked for evidence that this is, in fact, the case, and have failed to find any. If there is evidence, let's see it; if not, then the argument that it's commonly accepted holds no water.

To clarify:

Back when I first joined this thread, I Googled "sailor earth -tvtropes". The results were cleanly divided into two types.

1) Fan creations (fan art, fanfic, etc.) representing their own imagined Sailor Earths to fit into the world of Sailor Moon.

2) Various fan guesses (what would be WMG on this wiki) as to what character already in existence could be considered to be Sailor Earth in Sailor Moon. (Tuxedo Kamen seems to be the most popular choice.)

Example 1 is in line with the trope... except that the only examples of referring to the character type as Sailor Earth come from the Sailor Moon fandom. If you aren't part of said fandom and are not familiar with said fandom (and I specifically said fandom, not anime or manga, for a reason), the term is meaningless and completely obtuse.

EDIT: I do realize that my suggestions so far as to an alternate name have been substandard. There's a reason I dropped it after offering each one. That doesn't change the fact that this name is also problematic, and hopefully even the bad suggestions are moving folks towards what would make a sensible name.

edited 15th Aug '11 12:33:47 PM by 32_Footsteps

Tom Dick Harry And Bob OC.

Maybe shimaspawn could clarify the actual non-Sailor Moon fandom status of Sailor Earth, since the idea was brought into the discussion at around post #8:

Most of the sources I know where back from the Geocities era. I'm not sure about more modern sources since that went belly up.

Ah. Well, it's possible that the term never gained wide currency and has since died out.

I'm still not convinced that the trope name needs to be changed. However, as has been suggested, we should come up with a redirect or two. (It might also be wise to start an Image Pickin' discussion for this page... something that shows how an OC is "inserted" into a team without looking too out of place would be very helpful.)

I ran a search for "fan fiction glossary". "Sailor Earth" is not in any of the glossaries on the first page of results, and some of those are pretty extensive. (I even found "Jossed" in one of them.)

This is not an established term and it contains no indication as to what the trope is. It fails at clarity.

Renaming support crystal power, MAKE UP!

edited 18th Aug '11 8:54:13 AM by TripleElation

It may have fallen out of favour since the 90's. I won't discount that possibility.

We still run afoul of the other half of the equation, though - what should the name become? I know all my suggestions have had holes in them.

It's all fine and dandy to agree to a rename, but we won't get one if we have no good choices.

Original Character Replacement Member? Yeah I got nothing.

Fanfictional Sixth Ranger?

Trouble is Sixth Ranger is pretty bad name too, it just as (if not moreso) obscure and fandom-y than Sailor Moon. I say let this one stand.

edited 18th Aug '11 11:35:29 AM by CrypticMirror

Plug And Play Original Character?

What about Fanfiction Roster Addition? Or "Fanfic" or "Fanfictional" if that strikes people better.

Too general. That sounds like it could be any OC.

Adding To The Roster? I like that- has a nice ring to it.

edited 18th Aug '11 6:47:54 PM by Kexruct

I agree. Roster implies a team, so I definitely don't think it seems like it could just be any OC.

@Raso: No, it isn't, because for it to explain the trope all you need to know is "there were originally five", which is half-implicit in the name to begin with. Now, let's see you bridge the gap between "sailor earth" and the definition of the trope in four words or less. ("Planet sailors, earth missing"?..)

Also, according to The Other Wiki, Sailor Moon has aired in ~10 countries, and Power Rangers in ~40. So, all in all, using "sixth ranger" is definitely less fan-myopic than using "sailor earth".

Of course, that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to find something even better. I'm partial to Plug And Play Character or Plug And Play Roster; We can expand it to also include cases where it is done in a sequel, adaptation, etc.

edited 18th Aug '11 10:33:37 PM by TripleElation

Those titles make it sound like some sort of modular DLC like they have in League Of Legends. Even if you change it to Original Character, then it still sounds like you're talking about gaming mods.

Sequels and adaptations have nothing to do with this trope. Those all fall under Sixth Ranger. Also, remember that this is a very specific addition to the cast. They need to qualify as a Sixth Ranger first which means that they need to have powers, abilities, or some designation that fit in the same theme as the other characters.

edited 19th Aug '11 6:02:14 AM by shimaspawn

I'm not qualified to pass final judgment on what Plug And Play Original Character and co. would sound like to our readership. Also, I don't know what a DLC or a League Of Legends or a gaming mod is.

"Sailor Earth", on the other hand, is decidedly nonsense to anyone who was not a part of the fan fiction community circa 1990 (that's twenty years ago. I feel old). And even that exception hasn't been backed up by any data. I tried googling "a Sailor Earth" (to see someone going "Character X is a sailor earth") and no luck, at least not on the first five pages. If the term was ever in use, evidence of that seems to have disappeared into the belly of the internet.

edited 19th Aug '11 8:13:46 AM by TripleElation

DLC = Down Loadable Content. Often new characters that you can just plug into your existing game and play. League Of Legends is a game with A LOT of these.

edited 19th Aug '11 9:27:43 AM by shimaspawn

Lego OC?

Definitely not... that would imply that this trope has something to do with Legos. As awesome as that would be, it does not.

That makes no sense. What do Legos have to do with adding a new character that functions as part of the same set as the original characters following the same motifs?

I see where he's coming from: Legos are completely interchangeable, and once they've been put in place, it's impossible to tell that they weren't from the original set unless you know the contents of the original set very very well.

But as a name I don't think it will work very well.

edited 19th Aug '11 9:58:41 AM by Madrugada