Trope Description Improvement Drive

I suggest putting the proposals in sandbox pages, with the non-Main namespace ones using their intended namespaces as suffixes.

Two Decades Behind Sandbox links:

Laconic: A work that is set in the present day comes across as anachronistic through the inclusion of out-of-date elements.

Description

Analysis

America Won World War II sandbox is here

So, is Fetish Fuel, the sexual, reader version of Author Appeal?

That's something I've always wondered about. I often see it used for non-sexual things like clowns, cars etc - when the Author's hobbies show up Garnishing the Story or as a strange visual motif (yes, anything can be Fetish Fuel, but I'm talking about clearly non-sexual uses). But based on the description, it sounds more like the work being used as an Author Tract to promote the author's favorite lifestyle, kink, or mode of romance.

Author Appeal is in the same boat as Fanservice: both terms were originally supposed to indicate any general writing that appeals in whatever way to the author or the fans, but people use them almost exclusively for sex stuff. We eventually apparently just gave up on Fanservice; not sure what the current stance on Author Appeal is.

- I've seen AA used for non-sex stuff... Splitting off into a more accurate title for sex stuff might help, like Author Erotic Appeal or something, and Author Appeal would be the general idea...

PlayingWith.Author Appeal is focused on sex-stuff though...

I’d really think a clean up project for them all might be needed. And to solidly define Fetish Fuel, since I always thought that was something non-sexual being described in a sexual way so as to fuel the audience’s want for sexual content...

Funny, since FF already went through a TRS, 'cause I got into this as part of the TRS Wick Cleaning.

I think "Non-sexy things being sexy" is the only way to define FF, as else it turns into straight Fanservice?

Oh, I was right. Yeh, the Fanservice zone is pretty easily definable, especially with the many other tropes around it that can help box it in.

Can I go ahead and make proposed edits to Two Decades Behind?

I guess it has the vote of 3, and it’s not a redefinition so that consensus is good.

- So, no objections to saying that some possible expressions of Author Appeal are the author version of Fetish Fuel?

While not excluding non-sexual appeals Like, Sword Appeal, Redhead Appeal, etc. Err... Nature Appeal.

Theme Naming is for all kinds of names, not just characters, right?

edited 8th Apr '18 1:55:45 PM by Malady

• There's been no objections to the Author Appeal/Fetish Fuel connection, nor to Author Appeal being open to non-sexual concepts.
• Experience Points should have a wick to Experience Meter, noting the relation. It would seem that Character Level and Class and Level System have a different relationship with XP, and if it's confusing the concepts then should probably be removed.
• Steven Ulysses Perhero is better defined by its own laconic; I don't know enough about Warcraft to know whether listing Genn Greymane on both SUP and Prophetic Name is appropriate or not — it may an example of both, especially since SUP is not always a subtrope of Prophetic Name.
• You're right about Regenerating Mana.
• I think Theme Naming is restricted to characters, actually.

• Do you think Experience Points should be mentioned in Spell Levels, when... Actually, we don't have a Grinding trope for skills where they can be levelled up, in Levels and Experience Tropes?
• Theme Naming applies has entries for objects in its Real Life section... So it might need a TRS or something...

^{Heal Thyself}  Thinking that Heal Thyself needs a change, if it's true that it means a character who can heal themselves.

I'm saying that it should be an activated ability, since Healing Factor is involuntary, and Healing Potion is a consumable...

Also a subtrope of Healing Hands, because if you can heal others, makes no sense why you can't heal yourself, unless reasons?

Heal Thyself:

edited 10th Apr '18 3:43:20 PM by Malady

Yes to XP and Skill Levels; given the TRS backlog Theme Naming probably won't go through, especially since it doesn't seem to have wick misuse.

I like the Heal Thyself suggestion, but video game specific tropes are not particularly my area of expertise, so perhaps you could ask at ATT.

edited 9th Apr '18 8:32:00 PM by lakingsif

- That quote is what Heal Thyself currently is... I'm thinking it's too verbose and not directly stating it's "The ability to heal yourself" anywhere.

Hm, it seems OK, did you have a replacement text suggestion?

- A few ideas, but nothing substantial.

Heal Thyself's current description seems too focused on medkits and healing items in the first two paragraphs, which are what this trope is not?

Healing consumables seem to be Healing Potion, while medkits... I dunno.

I think this trope would be for healing spells / abilities that need activation. Automatic healing would be Healing Factor.

My idea for a new description might be something like:

But that's really preliminary...

edited 10th Apr '18 3:48:36 PM by Malady

Perhaps the Convenient Medkit trope idea could be put through TLP, then, but I think Heal Thyself is at least not bad enough to need help now.

Okay, so do we agree that Heal Thyself is some kind of ability for someone to heal themselves?

I will accept that medkits healing someone implies that they have the ability to use medkits on themselves.

Blatant Item Placement and/or Suspicious Video-Game Generosity + some Artistic License or Acceptable Break from Reality, could explain medkits?? Even if they're placed in justified locations?

^{Fictional Counterpart} 

Is Fictional Counterpart a type of Shout-Out?

'Cause I was using Bland-Name Product for ponified things in My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fanfics...

But then I realized that it possibly should be Fictional Counterpart, since the purpose is not to avoid trademarks or something.

^{Conveniently Coherent Thoughts}  Conveniently Coherent Thoughts is connected to Psychic Static and Telepathy as something like the opposite of Psychic Static, automatically presenting thoughts as understandable?

Stars Are Souls is not a Death Trope?

edited 1st May '18 3:04:30 PM by Malady

The description to Dateless Grave is one paragraph long and it doesn't even say much at that.

I'd say it's because they don't want to make a Period Piece, so they don't have dates.

And cut out the part about newspapers, 'cause how does that relate?

Kill One, Others Get Stronger noted that it was mainly Antagonists that had that, so put it on Antagonist Abilities?

Also Antagonist Abilities is a trope of The Antagonist?

Resting Recovery cannot be applied to Trauma Inn, the latter says... Is that right?

... Medical Monarch is any ruler with healing abilities. That seems too common in the age of video games for some reason? Mmm.

edited 1st May '18 9:38:02 AM by Malady

~MaLady

• 2046:
  • Heal Thyself, yes, an ability people can have where they can heal themselves.
  • Fictional Counterpart can be a Shout-Out; Bland-Name Product does not have to be deliberately Writing Around Trademarks, though. If it is obviously a slightly-altered version of a famous product (e.g. a sports car called a hambourghini) then it is BNP.
  • Conveniently Coherent Thoughts is obviously related to Telepathy, but does not have a direct relationship to Psychic Static. It seems that PS refers to an individual deliberately thinking about annoying things/explicit things/absolutely nothing in order to prevent a telepath from reading their actual thoughts, whereas CCT is averting the fact that most people do not think in complete sentences or even in tangible words by having what a telepath hears be a very coherent monologue.
  • Suddenly Always Knew That can be a particularly lazy way of trying to establish Hidden Depths, but certainly not always, in fact not even frequently. SAKT most often has very different motivations and a significant plot purpose.
  • Stars Are Souls is not a Death Trope. It does not even need to involve the possibility of death; some RL cultures that view stars as souls have them as the souls of immortal spirit ancestors who influenced the humans but were never anything but souls. Obviously it can and often does involve characters dying, but that may also be in a back story, or it could just be the stated belief that you will become a star when you die. "Death Tropes" as it is used are not just tropes that can involve death; they are tropes where the purpose and function are based in a character dying and thus all examples are spoilers.
  • I like the proposed change to Our Founder.
  • Meaningful Name/Punny Name: A Punny name obviously involves a pun (e.g. Richard Lionhead being a lion and so having a lion's head^note A Pun on Richard Lionheart, who was King of England in the 12th Century, it is simply a pun on the name, and has no meaning unless the character is also similar in personality to Richard Lionheart or is also a powerful King); a Punny name that's also a Meaningful name is where the pun also is symbolic (e.g. Richard Lionhead the lion becomes King of England later in the movie^note See the other note); a Meaningful name is a name which has symbolism for the character (e.g. a (non-lion) character who becomes King who is called Richard Lionhead; or, Justine in Frankenstein being a character-as-device to show the lack of justice, and Victor being a complete failure).
• 2048:
  • KOOGS on AA seems good
  • Antagonist Abilities is related to The Antagonist; are you proposing to add a link on the The Antagonist page?
  • Trauma Inn actually says "See also [...] Resting Recovery, where you can rest pretty much anywhere to restore health" — this describes their relationship well, so I think it is all fine.
  • Medical Monarch — it is still a character type even if it is very common. Like, you know, The Hero. To me it sounds like a very specific character type, so it's not too general a trope idea, either.

edited 1st May '18 12:13:09 PM by lakingsif

OK, guys, we have a rather basic issue with Monstrous Mandibles from the crash rescue; ~Marq FJA mentions how it treats "maxila" and "mandible" as commonplace terms, and that the description relies on the reader knowing the difference. I think that Marq is going to do some rewrites, but if you have any ideas on how it could be improved to ditch/explain the terms I'm sure it would help.

edited 1st May '18 11:43:05 AM by lakingsif