It does not appear to be a trope so much as one person's complaining. It only has three examples. I think just a straight cut is good.
Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. Dick
I'd also add that "a case of gratuitously bad luck" is NOT something that would immediately come to mind to ANYONE when they hear the name Vlad Tepes.
Although, that's trivial compared to this page's other problems.
edited 14th Jan '12 9:23:20 AM by SeanMurrayI
It's from Alternate History.com. When someone posted a gratuitously cruel scenario (like "what if all the water in the world dried out"), someone would post this
◊ banner.
Then it's just some meme and it really does need to be cut.
Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. Dick
That's not even a meme, just some in-joke from some other website community (which is even dumber).
Okay, I put it on the cutlist.
Vlad Tepes Award has died a fiery death. We can lock this.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
The Vlad Tepes Award description says simply that it's about a moment that it occurs when the characters have a case of gratuitously bad luck. My main problem is that this seems to be Wall Banger But More Specific.