Just a nail and a caption: For Want Of A Nail

Pretty lame visual pun if you ask me. Also too large for what it is. I think the page looked better before.

It isn't even a pun. Yank the sucker.

EDIT: Anybody else like this one?

edited 26th Dec '11 11:54:49 AM by 20LogRoot10

That's no better. This is a chain of events, so this is going to take a Multi Part Picture, preferably with two columns, one for without a key thing, and one for with it.

How is it no better? The implication is that he'd be fighting the battle in the background if he could attach the horseshoe .

I didn't get that impression. Unless we can find a good sequence of images, I think this is better off without a picture, or at least a smaller nail.

"How is it no better? The implication is that he'd be fighting the battle in the background if he could attach the horseshoe . "

Sorry, but I'm not seeing it.

I got that impression immediately. I wouldn't say it's the best example, but it was obvious to me.

Remove the current pic on grounds of JANAAC.

The pic in post 2 is certainly a Keep Until Better Image Suggested for me, so let's put that up for now.

I'd be fine with replacing the current pic with the knight/horse suggestion, unless someone finds something better.

Bump...anyone else like the knight/horse pic?

It might be an improvement to see some consequence, but nevertheless I like the knight-and-horse image.

I don't like the horse picture. It's not obvious that the horse threw its shoe, and if you have to analyze a picture to get the point it's not effective.

I think the knight/horse is medium (not great, not bad) and a kajillion times better than the current image, which is a picture of an actual nail. It's not even a horseshoe nail.

edited 3rd Feb '12 2:42:55 PM by rodneyAnonymous

Keep looking, or start a single action crowner to switch the pics?

Why not both? Start a crowner to swap the picture, but leave this open for new entries?

I'd be in favor of scaling down the current image. Although, if we could add to the horse image say a destroyed castle/kingdom (as in the proverb), that might work too.

The blue horse works. Considering how hard it is to show the trope, it works surprisingly well for a single-frame pic.

Is there a picture of a country using a weapon that it never did because it was defeated before they developed it? i know this is a bad example but its the only one i can think of off the top of my head: nazis using an atomic bomb (even if they did survive longer we would have used ours on them first anyways)

No storytelling devices or conventions were invoked by World War Two. It was not scripted.

I know not everything has to be artificial, but atomic warfare? Jeez. This wiki is a catalog of the tricks of the trade for writing fiction.

edited 14th Feb '12 12:04:46 AM by rodneyAnonymous

I'm good with the horse suggestion. It's not ideal, but it visibly has the rest of the army moving off while the knight is still behind, which makes it way better than what's up there now.

I bet that painting is titled "For Want of a Nail". Not important.

As far as I undestand the trope is not just about a chain of events, when somethig small has a huge effect, its about alternate timelines based on such a chain. I don't see this in the suggested image.

I was about to express support for the horse, but then I saw that this is really about alternate history.

If the American revolutionaries had lost the Battle of Saratoga

edited 14th Feb '12 6:10:01 PM by Catbert

I don't think it's particularly clear. It's also more of changing a key event For Want Of A Nail.

It also doesn't work without the caption.

Can a trope about alternate timelines have real life examples?