Absolutely Terrible Name, Not Thriving At All: Not Very Pretty Now Is He

The trope name is based on dialogue, and sounds pretty ambiguous as is. But worst of all, the trope's intended definition is something that sounds very different from what the title would suggest.

While the title suggests something to do with bodily or facial mutilation, the basic definition describes something more akin to a warning or message from a villain informing a protagonist of what happened to the last person who crossed him (if not the fate of a fallen ally). I quote,

Actual physical changes to a person (or how pretty he/she originally looked) don't even have to be relevant to an example. To quote another part of the description,

At the heart of the problem, this has been collecting a few examples akin to Finger in the Mail but focusing solely on the bodily mutilation or dismemberment (which still seems rather redundant, given the other trope). A few other examples sound more like a Stock Phrase (The Killing Joke example, the Tim Burton Batman movie example, the supposed Trope Namer under "Literature", etc.) or are otherwise not the least bit reflective of anything important in the description.

When we get down to it, all this page has brought us are 2 inbounds in the past year over 28 wicks.

edited 13th Jan '12 11:17:12 AM by SeanMurrayI

Absolutely terrible name. I assumed it was going to be about mutilation.

It does not matter who I am. What matters is, who will you become? - motto of Omsk Bird

Comprehensive Wick Check (all 28 represented)

Indexes, Related Tropes

• Evil Tropes
• Finger in the Mail (The "character's heirloom taken by a villain to suggest his fate to others" variety would, at least, be a Sister Trope)
• TropeNamers/Literature

Misuse Relating to the Results of Cold-Blooded Torture, Mutilation

• A Case Of Exploding Mangoes
• A Tortured Index (This one is probably arguable to others, but because the defined trope doesn't directly involve torture, I'm going to place it here)
• Cannibal Tribe (I don't think the context of the trope definition is relevant to the exploitation subgenre being highlighted here)
• Cold-Blooded Torture, natch
• Fansadox (Specifically referring to mentions of how people died in horrible ways)
• Manga/MuhyoAndRoji
• Revenge Tropes (Potholed under the word "mutilation")
• Spiderdub (Potholed under the phrase "mutilated nigh-unidentifiable corpse")
• The Big Lebowski (Misused for Finger in the Mail)
• NightmareFuel/TheLastStarfighter (Referring to the fate of a character)
• The Last Starfighter (Same as directly above)
• Unstoppable Rage (Also one of three Sink Holes, this one linked under the word "had")

Misuse Relating to the Title Sounding like a Stock Phrase

• Mercy Kill
• Revenge by Proxy

Correct (One Way or Another)

• Breaking Bad (Referring to the "character's heirloom taken by the villain" variety)
• WMG/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica (Referring to the "hero's ally's suffering at the hands of a villain used to threaten the hero" variety)
• TheLordOfTheRings/TropesM-O (Referring to the "character's heirloom taken by the villain" variety)

Zero Context Examples

• Webcomic/BirthdayGift
• Cannibal Holocaust (Probably wrong, however; see Cannibal Tribe, above)
• FanFic/ConstantTemptation
• Literature/GauntsGhosts
• Manga/Gunnm
• TabletopGame/KULT
• Music/RaziasShadow

Other

• YYZ (Blank)

edited 13th Jan '12 11:37:11 AM by SeanMurrayI

Yeah, definitely needs a rename. This trope's name could not make any less sense.

edited 13th Jan '12 2:04:40 PM by MyTimingIsOff

Past Victim Showcase, Past Victim Resume, Resume Is A Dead Guys Face

Given the misuse, low number of wicks, and non-indicative Stock Phrase name it currently has, I would definitely support renaming Not Very Pretty Now Is He.

It might be a bit too early for a crowner now, but I can definitely make a single proposition one when people think it is time for one.

edited 13th Jan '12 5:52:14 PM by LouieW

"irhgT nm0w tehre might b ea lotof th1nmgs i dont udarstannd, ubt oim ujst goinjg to keepfollowing this pazth i belieove iN !!!!!1 d

I'm wondering if that bit about heirlooms that is wrongly limited to fantasy settings could be its own trope.

edited 13th Jan '12 8:51:33 PM by SeanMurrayI

Honestly I think that line is just some made up thing, I'm not sure what it's talking about. if it means taking something that was important to someone else the villain had screwed over int he past, it's just as common in modern/real life settings as fantasy ones.

edited 13th Jan '12 9:05:45 PM by NoirGrimoir

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

Nah, the whole heirloom thing plays out more like Finger in the Mail. Instead of a body part being given to someone to convey another character's fate, it's just a prized item the character was known to have had.

edited 14th Jan '12 7:58:13 PM by SeanMurrayI

There is now a single proposition rename crowner for this trope here.

"irhgT nm0w tehre might b ea lotof th1nmgs i dont udarstannd, ubt oim ujst goinjg to keepfollowing this pazth i belieove iN !!!!!1 d

I'd also push for a completely written, clearer description.

I think there is a trope here. If you kidnapped/captured someone and did horrible things to them and then asked "Not Very Pretty Now Is He" that would be this trope. I remember when Vince Mcmahon locked a guy in a cage with Umaga and then said "Look at him! He's convulsing!" after Umaga smashed his throat and then threw him head fist into the walls about five times in row.

Modified Ura-nage, Torture Rack

Sooooo... you see this as a Stock Phrase. Given that this is not supposed to be a Stock Phrase in its present form and that This Wiki is now pretty averse to creating new ones, I'm not sure if that option would be on the table.

Even if we do make this a Stock Phrase, I think there would be a fine line between "Not very pretty now, is he?" and "Look at him! He's convulsing!"

Also, can someone please hook this crowner to the thread? I hollered a few days ago to get this done, but for some reason that hasn't happened.

Crowner hooked.

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

I'd say we've got ourselves a pretty solid consensus for a rename.

I would like to ask again, though, if anyone thinks we should do something about rewriting the description or tweaking the definition.

Calling crowner

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

Given the support for a rename, there is now an alternative titles crowner for this trope here. Feel free to add names as you see fit.

Personally, I think the description is alright as it is now. I guess you could split off the heirloom part, but I feel like it is related enough to keep in the sense that the villain could present the iconic item as proof in the absence of a photograph or other remains.

"irhgT nm0w tehre might b ea lotof th1nmgs i dont udarstannd, ubt oim ujst goinjg to keepfollowing this pazth i belieove iN !!!!!1 d

Switched.

I didn't write any of that.

How is that just a stock phrase? Injuring or maiming someone to get a reaction out of someone else is definitely a valid story telling device. You could be getting Revenge by Proxy or it could just be part of your standard Evil Gloating. Maybe the character in question is a Green-Eyed Monster who's simply out to ruin another out of spite. But tell me how exactly capturing or kidnapping someone for the purpose of doing horrible things to them in order strike at an audience's cords is a stock phrase.

Mr. Mcmahon wanted to show all Triple H's fans his son in law had no chance that Sunday so he used a substitute for Umaga, told them to look at the substitute's bleeding figure after Umaga was done with him and said "Look, Triple is convulsing!" Yeah, that's not exactly "past victim showcase" but its still a trope all its own. Another example would be in the Game Cube Fire Emblem when a bad guy twists a man's body to the point he can only move on all fours then uses him as a chair in an attempt to make the guy's father stop being a pacifist.

Modified Ura-nage, Torture Rack

Because when we get down to it, the meat of the concept you previously described is a verbal response to someone being maimed or disfigured—not the act of maiming or disfiguring someone itself.

And since NOBODY wanted to keep the old name, there's no point reshaping the trope in such a way, anyway.

edited 21st Jan '12 1:41:41 PM by SeanMurrayI

Except their was no verbal response in the second example. We never even see the two interact on screen, we are just told of the occurrence and shown the evidence that the bad guy is using a man he twisted as something to sit on. Both had a different purpose but the action was the same, maiming a guy to get someone else to react. One wanted to show their was no hope, the other just wanted to make someone mad. And why keep the title? Because even though the line was never spoken "Not so pretty now is he?" wouldn't be the wrong thing to ask in either case.

Modified Ura-nage, Torture Rack

Jeez, I can't tell if that Simpsons example is supposed to be in the spirit of the trope or not. Was Moe threatening someone that they would end up like the monkeys?

I'm trying to do a clean-up but I can't work out if thats an example or not. Can anyone with a knowledge of that episode help me out?

Also, I'm sure that that Lord Of The Rings example can be improved; but I'm not sure how to alter it; should I just remove the Repair Dont Respond violation and just truncate "tortured to death" to "horribly tortured"?

Also, Finger in the Mail seems like a sub-trope of this to me.

edited 21st Jan '12 3:15:11 PM by GameChainsaw

The term "Great Man" is disturbingly interchangeable with "mass murderer" in history books.

Game Chainsaw,

Thanks for cleaning up the page. Your idea for the Lord Of The Rings example makes sense to me, so I would go ahead and go through with it.

The context for that example from The Simpsons is below.

It looks to me like misuse for the stock phrase.

As for the alternative titles, I feel like Past Victim Showcase is a decent name, but I wonder if a name that was more clearly negative would work better. I guess I feel like "showcase" might seem a little out of place for this trope.

edited 21st Jan '12 3:20:39 PM by LouieW

"irhgT nm0w tehre might b ea lotof th1nmgs i dont udarstannd, ubt oim ujst goinjg to keepfollowing this pazth i belieove iN !!!!!1 d

Has this garnered enough votes to render judgement? We've got a fairly steady hand in favour of renaming it and to what.

The term "Great Man" is disturbingly interchangeable with "mass murderer" in history books.

I think so.