Rename (alt titles 5/22): Kicking Ass And Taking Names

This is an unhealthy trope: Kicking Ass and Taking Names found in: 20 articles, excluding discussions.

Since January 1, 2011 this article has brought 57 people to the wiki from non-search engine links.

You may not guess it from the name, but this trope is about being bored while fighting off an army of mooks. Apparently is was originally just about fighting off an army of mooks, but someone added the "being bored" part to differentiate it from "What a One-Man Army does".

Misuse check of the 11 examples (I can't be certain, because I don't know most of them, but I'm going on what is written):

• Black Lagoon: Misuse. Should be One-Man Army and Badass Crew.
• Full Metal Panic: Misuse, as stated on the page.
• Berserk: Correct.
• To Aru Majutsu No Index: Correct.
• Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines: Misuse. Refers to the phrase, not the trope.
• Ace Combat: Uncertain. Possibly correct, possibly One Man Air Force.
• Nintendo: Misuse. Refers to the phrase, not the trope.
• The Bible: Misuse. All of these are One Man Armies.
• Torchwood: I don't even... (Uncertain)
• Uncertain Realms: Misuse. Refers to the phrase, not the trope.
• Emotion Eric: Misuse. Refers to the phrase, not the trope.

So that is 2 correct, 2 uncertain, and 7 misuses.

Wicks:

• Acquired Poison Immunity: Misuse. Sinkhole.
• A New Age: Uncertain. Not enough information given.
• Badass: Index link.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: Misused to mean kicking ass.
• Sandbox: It's in sandbox.
• Bilingual Backfire: Misuse. Sinkhhole.
• Badass Creed: Misuse. Sinkhole.
• Death Crusades: Uncertain. Probably misuse but not enough information given.
• Drive Angry: Correct.
• Earth-3682155: Uncertain. Not enough information.
• Elenco Provvisorio H-K: Translation into Italian.
• Fallout Tactics Brotherhood Of Steel: Misuse. Sinkhole.
• He's Back!: Misused to mean kicking ass.
• I Antivirus: Uncertain. No explanation at all.
• I Surrender, Suckers: Misuse. Sinkhole.
• Lady of War: Misuse. Sinkhole.
• Let Me at Him!. Misused to mean kicking ass.
• Sly Cooper. Misuse, I think. Looks like a sinkhole.
• What Measure Is a Non-Badass?: Misused to mean kicking ass.

1 correct, 3 wiki admin, 4 uncertain, and 11 misuses (the 20th is a self-reference in the trope description).

I get the feeling this came about as a title looking for a trope. I'm not entirely familiar with the phrase, but I think it means something along the lines of "Kicking ass, but more!" right? In which case it's not really an appropriate title for a trope about being bored while kicking ass. On the other hand, the "being bored" is the only part making it tropable.

I would suggest a rename is in order, assuming there are enough examples of people getting bored fighting mooks. The current title would work as a stockphrase, but I guess that isn't going to happen. As it stands, it's a sinkhole magnet.

edited 8th Jan '12 6:12:29 PM by Blackfire

Hm, it seems like a one person variant of Casual Danger Dialogue.

Fight smart, not fair.

Casual Danger Monologue :D

That seems redundant/unnecessary, though.

edited 8th Jan '12 7:15:08 PM by rodneyAnonymous

Becky: Who are you? The Mysterious Stranger: An angel. Huck: What's your name? The Mysterious Stranger: Satan.

It really does.

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I agree. Might as well merge them.

Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. Dick

Supporting a merge.

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Going by the description, this isn't about monologue, and doesn't necessarily involve talking at all. While this trope's title is non-indicative, merging with Casual Danger Dialogue would mean Casual Danger Dialogue is no longer about dialogue or conversation.

The page clearly says this is when a character gets bored while kicking a lot of ass. It doesn't have anything to do with dialogue.

SPATULA, Supporters of Page Altering To Urgently Lead to Amelioration (supports not going through TRS for tweaks and minor improvements.)

Then this name is hugely inappropriate.

Agreed.

SPATULA, Supporters of Page Altering To Urgently Lead to Amelioration (supports not going through TRS for tweaks and minor improvements.)

I know it has nothing to do with dialogue, I'm not sure why people thought I said that. It has a similar function in that it shows a large amount nonchalance about facing mooks in order to establish the characters personalty and or combat skill.

If this isn't restricted to one character, Casual Danger Dialogue would be a subtrope.

Fight smart, not fair.

I'd imagine you could have a team falling under this trope.

So are we going to just think of a rename? Epic Battle Boredom?

Anyway, Kicking Ass and Taking Names in general usage refers to fighting for justice in a really epic way, I think. Hence the confusion.

Actually, it's stock phrase I usually hear referring to the amount of ass kicking being done. Specifically, they don't even try to fight people, they just kick their ass and write the name of the person they've kicked for their "wall of ass whoopery".

Fight smart, not fair.

Why is Casual Danger Dialog limited to speech?

Becky: Who are you? The Mysterious Stranger: An angel. Huck: What's your name? The Mysterious Stranger: Satan.

Because it's dialogue? I assume you could write a letter in it as well, it's just a way to show something.

Fight smart, not fair.

This. That's the trope.

SPATULA, Supporters of Page Altering To Urgently Lead to Amelioration (supports not going through TRS for tweaks and minor improvements.)

Let's try to break down what tropes are what. I'm going to invent (or rather purloin) some nomenclature to make this easier (I don't like using super-trope or sub-trope to refere to things that aren't actually tropes. A "class" is defined as a set of characteristics in media. A trope is therefore any non-trivial class sufficiently distinct from other tropes and used sufficiently often to be significant. A superclass to class "A" is any class that contains all examples of A plus additional examples. A subclass to A is any class with less examples than A whose examples all lie within A.

Imagine a class:

• People do something in a dangerous situation.

It has many subclasses, but we'll look at two:

• People talk calmly in a dangerous situation.
• People do something non-urgent during a fight.

Both of these share a sub-class:

• People talk about something non-urgent during a fight.

Other than sharing a superclass and a subclass, they aren't related (or, to put it another way, they are related but not strongly enough to be easily merged. Casual Danger Dialogue, after all, contains lots of examples of Gallows Humor and Stiff Upper Lip, which have nothing to do with Kicking Ass and Taking Names). As far as I can tell, Kicking Ass and Taking Names is distinct from other tropes and non-trivial. Whether it is common enough is the real question. There's only 3 correct examples at the moment. I'm sure there's more than that out there, though, such as the fight at the end of the Matrix where Neo only uses one hand.

It bears repeating that the name is terrible and needs to go.

That seems an overly elaborate 'explanation'.

Casual Danger Dialogue is just when someone makes casual chatter during a fight, any fight. It could mean the fight is easy or it could mean the fighter is just a wise-ass in the face of actual danger. For what it's worth, it's usually the later.

Kicking Ass and Taking Names is when a character is shown doing silly, non-related things during a fight, which could potentially include a conversation but by no means requires one, specifically to indicate a fight is easy and boring.

Casual Danger Dialogue can be a part of a Kicking Ass and Taking Names situation, but ti's by no means a requirement or directly related.

SPATULA, Supporters of Page Altering To Urgently Lead to Amelioration (supports not going through TRS for tweaks and minor improvements.)

^ what? Casual Danger Dialog isn't specifically about fights, but casual treatment of dangerous situations in general. Like from the Van Helsing film:

---

Van Helsing: I'd say it's a size 17, about 360 pounds, 8 and a half to 9 feet tall and he has a bad gimp in his right leg and ... eh, 3 copper teeth.
Anna Valerious: How do you know he has copper teeth?
Van Helsing: 'Cause he's standing right behind you....

edited 9th Jan '12 7:22:00 PM by Stratadrake

An Ear Worm is like a Rickroll: It is never going to give you up.

I knew that, typed fights by accident.

SPATULA, Supporters of Page Altering To Urgently Lead to Amelioration (supports not going through TRS for tweaks and minor improvements.)

I think Noir Grimoir is right, and there's no real need to think about classes or subclasses. I think the main problem here is just the terrible title.

edited 9th Jan '12 7:44:44 PM by Ckuckoo

Yeah, they only have a vague relationship. And the name Kicking Ass And Taking names doesn't have anything to do with the actual trope.

Maybe... Easy Fight Antics?

SPATULA, Supporters of Page Altering To Urgently Lead to Amelioration (supports not going through TRS for tweaks and minor improvements.)

I think that perfectly describes the trope. Should get rid of all confusion.

I'm okay with it.

Fight smart, not fair.

"..it's dialog..."

Well, not necessarily, "dialog" is just in its title. If you communicate the exact same message wordlessly, doesn't that count?

But either way :) Was mostly just curious.

Becky: Who are you? The Mysterious Stranger: An angel. Huck: What's your name? The Mysterious Stranger: Satan.