Oddball name, not thriving: Omega Cast

Well, I'm sure the letter Omega sounds Totally Radical, but what does it actually mean? Can you Guess The Trope on this?

Because the title isn't working: it's given us a grand total of eight inbounds since january, despite having 100 wicks. That's probably because "omega cast" is not an established term for this, and while "omega" has several meanings in real life (such as "ultimate" in pop culture), none of them come even close to describing this trope.

So yeah. We can probably fix this by giving the article a meaningful name.

Oh, good. Someone started a thread for this. It was on my list of tropes that just really aren't doing as well as they are considering how common they are.

Eww, this name isn't very indicative. I don't even get it. The trope itself should be much more used than it is on the wiki.

When I first came across this trope I had to think for a bit and then I remembered "alpha and omega" and it made sense like the cast might be the last people on earth.

Shows like Bakemonogatari and Negima Second Season walking around streets, parks, classrooms there is no one around ever but the named cast.

The term "Alpha and Omega" refers to Jesus, not to the last people on earth.

Neither of those shows is this trope. They both have casts that are far too large. This is for when there's only a handful of characters in the entire work. If there are more than ten characters period, it's not this trope. Both of those shows have huge casts. Everyone is just named.

This trope is for works like Waiting For Godot which has an entire cast of 5.

edited 23rd Dec '11 11:43:27 AM by shimaspawn

How so? Bakemono spends episodes walking down streets in broad daylight yet you never see an extra anywhere ever, anyone who doesn't affect the main plot just does not exist. (There are not many cast members around 8 in the first series.)

Negima Second Season you got your class and teachers but the rest of the school of 30,000 students that the narrator makes a point to talk about? Don't exist in any scene, parks, stadiums, etc (Played with when the class is trapped in a pocket dimension looking like the real world except for no people... While they go looking for others really not much changes from the viewer.)

It's really creepy at times for both.

edited 23rd Dec '11 11:58:47 AM by Raso

They may all be named characters, but they're not all the main characters. That's the difference.

Just because everyone has a name and effects the plot doesn't mean that there's not a lot of characters. It's just economy of detail. Not a true Omega Cast.

I very much disagree when Extras are missing though the entirety of the work when they should be there even if in Faceless Masses form it should be this, it is very much an artistic choice.

Negima has extras by the truckload giving the feeling of a real school Negima Second Season it was an artistic choice to not show them, and Bakemono's Deranged Animation compounded with this (and small cast) is very artsy too... Studio Shaft did both.

I didn't add them there just saying that they seem perfect examples to me.

edited 23rd Dec '11 12:25:12 PM by Raso

That has nothing to do with this trope though. It might be a separate completely different trope that we don't have, but in no way does it justify you cramming works with Loads And Loads Of Characters into a trope that's about works that only have a handful period. Negima is the exact opposite of this trope.

edited 23rd Dec '11 12:25:23 PM by shimaspawn

Terrible name, no idea what the creator of the trope thinks "omega" means.

Omega, in English, means "the end" or "the last". It's supposed to invoke the sense of "the last people on earth".

I see a much bigger problem: the description says "the only characters that appear at all onscreen are the main characters. No supporting characters, no extras, no guest stars."

However the examples match more what shimaspawn is saying, of a trope that has very few characters (with Faceless Mooks counting as one character).

Yes, it is possible to qualify for Loads And Loads Of Characters and no supporting characters at the same time. Difficult, but possible. It is not possible to qualify for no supporting characters and Faceless Mooks at the same time, because that kind of mook cannot be a main character.

edited 26th Dec '11 10:49:16 AM by crazysamaritan

Bump

This needs a rename crowner. The title is meaningless and the trope page is disused.

As requested, there is now a single proposition rename crowner for this trope here.

Negima totally isn't an example but Bakemonogatari definitely is, I think. There are literally only 10 characters in the entire show. Not just ten named characters, but literally only ten people, all of whom are named and distinct. Period. All of them are main characters, none are satellite characters, and there are no extras, like at all. There aren't even like "NPC" characters, like a one-off bystander to man a shop.

I feel like this trope would be common in Web Comics.

edited 14th Jan '12 10:05:39 PM by NoirGrimoir

This trope is common in webcomics. If there's only ten characters period it would be this trope. Negima has far too many characters to count though.

It is literally Impossible to have Loads And Loads Of Characters and give every character more or less equal amount of screen time, so I agree having a small cast is essential to the trope.

edited 14th Jan '12 10:06:45 PM by NoirGrimoir

Agreed and that show has so many characters it has multiple character sheets. It's the complete opposite of this trope. Raso lumping them together as the same thing made me assume that the one I didn't know was the same as the one I did.

Very much disagree Negima Second Season is this (Negima or Negima Neo however isnt it in any way.) There are no extras ever not even a Faceless Masses its got the class, teachers and a Big Bad and that it...

Its completely noticeable throughout the series when there are no people walking around the school, nobody at counters in supermarkets nothing but the Class of characters and their teacher.

edited 14th Jan '12 10:12:37 PM by Raso

It's not about not having extras, it's about not having satellite characters and small time characters (or extras).

No extras though is a trope in it's own right, I think, you should YKTTW it, Raso.

edited 14th Jan '12 10:12:15 PM by NoirGrimoir

It doesn't matter. It has more than ten characters. That means it's not this trope. It doesn't matter that it names every character. That's not this trope. This trope is the opposite of Loads And Loads Of Characters.

That is this trope though there isn't anyone but the Named cast in the opening and that's it. It's not a different trope...

It is just like Studio Shaft's other series Bakemonogatari which does indeed have supporting characters. (the fire sisters? Shinobu? Senjogahara's Father. ) there is never a non-named character on screen (a few referred to but never seen)

edited 14th Jan '12 10:20:50 PM by Raso

It's not this trope, Raso. Unless you want to try to claim that the twins are actually important, developed characters.

And even those Bakemonogatari sisters get their own arcs. So no, they're not minor.

edited 14th Jan '12 10:22:54 PM by Arha