Not Thriving: Spike Of All Trades

Spike Of All Trades. 7 links, 7 people.

This doesn't seem to be a thing. The description says "Spike is a name used for outsiders, loners, badasses", but most of the examples don't fit. For instance, Spike the dog on Rugrats doesn't fit the description. Nor do the various Spikes of the MLP-verse. Nor Spike Lee. Nor Spike TV.

Just "Characters with the name X" is not a trope. Trimming the examples that don't fit the description would leave maybe two examples at best.

Odd, the PSOC label gets thrown at so many YKTTW proposals, yet here we have a trope for which PSOC probably really does apply and it doesn't get called out on it until now?

I'm inclined to say that it's just "Spike is a cool name", the trope name has nothing to do with the trope, the examples are all over the place, and there's nothing really interesting here. Support cut.

The only two examples of something tropable are the Magic The Gathering psychographics and Spike from Paper Mario (64), where 'Spike' is chosen as a name because it sounds cool.

The rest are just PSOC. I don't always like to cut stuff, but this one can be axed.

The examples need a lot of work, but there's nothing wrong with trope as the first paragraph describes it. Someone named "Spike" is likely to be an outsider, a loner, a Bad Boy, an Anti-Hero, a Badass, and sometimes a Badass Longcoat.

edited 24th May '12 5:25:53 PM by abk0100

The problem is that almost none of the examples fit.

So, how many examples would remain if we cut away all that doesn't fit?

Spike as a pet name is a completely different trope, though.

The two I listed above definitely fit as being used to denote being cool or tough.

• Cowboy Bebop
• Buffy
• Dinosaurs
• Happy Days
• Snoopy's brothers
• Paper Mario
• Tom And Jerry

All those examples fit the description.

edited 24th May '12 7:38:57 PM by abk0100

And a character named Vinny is likely to be a mafia soldier. Not a trope. v

edited 24th May '12 8:53:37 PM by rodneyAnonymous

So you're saying stock names for certain character types are not tropes?

This strikes me as redundant to Names to Run Away from Really Fast.

Wanna explain that?

"This name indicates how badass a character is" is precisely what Names to Run Away From is about.

So you noticed the word "Badass" in the description, but you missed "outsider", "loner", "Bad Boy" and "Anti-Hero"?

So, in other words, "characters named Spike can have a wide variety of traits and we think they're cool"? That's... not a trope, really.

Well said. This is not a trope.

Is that reason enough to cut? I say yes.

That's not "a wide variety of traits." That's a group of often-interrelated traits. You can make anything sound meaningless if you phrase it like that.

I don't see loner as a part of the name, though. Nor necessarily outsider. It's a name with an edge to it, and is often used for characters with an edge to them.

And that is what Names to Run Away From is for.

I'm inclined to agree. I don't see a notable difference.

Anyone still remember Jack Attack, which was cut for being nothing but a list of characters with that name? This one is exactly the same.

Yup, no trope here. Just a bunch of leather-jacket wearing bad boys that happen to have the same name. It's probably just a coincidence.

edited 26th May '12 8:16:22 AM by abk0100

But is it distinct from Names to Run Away From?