Does Not Illustrate: My Greatest Failure

There are several things wrong with the pic:

1) First of all, the trope relates to a big failure that defines a hero. The character in the pic is not a hero, but a very minor mook, and his failure isn't even addressed in the actual movie.

2) The pic does show the character feels bad about something, but he could be just as well be generally depressed or sad. Even if we assume he's looks like that because he's ashamed of something, there's no indication he's thinking about his "greatest failure". Maybe he just farted in front of his superior officer, and that's why he's so shameful?

3) The only way to know the image is related to "his greatest failure" is to read the caption, and the caption makes no sense if you haven't seen the movie.

To sum it up: the image and caption can't be understood without having seen the movie, and even if you understand it, it's not an example of the trope.

Here's a suggestion for a replacement:

It's not perfect, but at least it shows that, A) the character has failed at something, and B) he feels really bad about the failure.

edited 17th Jul '12 4:26:54 AM by Tuomas

Damn, what code do you need to add to the image link so that it appears in the middle of the post and not in the lower left corner?

I don't know of any way to do that; [[center: ]] didn't work in the quick test I did. Put [[hardline]] on the line after the image URL (it won't show up in the actual post) and the following text will appear below it.

edited 17th Jul '12 4:26:21 AM by Telcontar

Thanks!

You can also put a double vertical line at the beginning and end of the pic URL:

||static.tvtropes.org/somepicforsomepage.jpg||

edited 17th Jul '12 6:00:23 AM by Willbyr

Current:

It's really, really funny. The suggestion is (mostly) just speech bubbles. It has roughly the same clarity, maybe a bit more, but is a lot less concise and witty. The caption and the image work together, and this is a fantastic example of that; "the image can't stand alone" is not a valid complaint. "It doesn't make sense unless you've seen Star Wars" is a fair point, though. Best so far IMO; but other suggestions?

edited 17th Jul '12 12:15:15 PM by rodneyAnonymous

Honestly, the stormtrooper pic is too funny to lose. I'd either change the pothole to Film.A New Hope or put that in the caption.

edited 17th Jul '12 12:50:03 PM by Willbyr

It's a funny pic + caption combination, no doubt, but like I said, besides being incomprehensible to people who haven't seen the movie, it's not even an example of the trope. The trope is not about just any random character failing in some way, it's about the hero failing in such a dramatic way that it will affect his future characterization. The stormtrooper in the pic is not the hero, and he has no characterization after his one short scene. Just because it's a funny pic doesn't mean it should be used to illustrate a trope it doesn't fit.

"Just because it's a funny pic doesn't mean it should be used to illustrate a trope it doesn't fit."

It does if there isn't a better suggestion.

I don't consider the suggestion better than the current at illustrating the trope or being a good page image (quality, text, etc.). The current is hilarious; I vote to keep it.

Okay, here's a better example:

This one is much better than the Stormtrooper image, because:

1) It's an actual example of the trope, and one of the most famous too: without this failure there would be no superhero called Spider-Man.

2) Unlike the stormtrooper pic and my previous Spider-Man pic, you can see the character's face, which looks tremendously sad, so it's not just some minor failure we're talking about here.

3) Even if you're not familiar with the work, the picture still tells you that the character has failed terribly: because he didn't act, his uncle is now dead, and you can see he's deeply shocked by this failure.

It still relies on the text to support the pic, but so does the Stormtrooper image. I don't think you can illustrate this trope without any text.

I like that

It's okay but I am skeptical. It is missing "greatest" completely. What would the caption be?

The current image, even in context, portrays the idea of 'Defined by their greatest failure', rather than the actual trope.

I'm something like, "Peter learns the hard way that With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility, and a hero is born," only with fewer words.

edited 24th Jul '12 5:55:28 PM by dsneybuf

Suggestions are far worse than the current so far IMO.

The Spider-Man pic is already on Classical Anti-Hero.

True, and it's a horrible JAFAAC case there.

edited 4th Aug '12 6:56:12 AM by Willbyr

So you want to end its existence there?

The Spider Man suggestions have the benefit of being an actual example. They're worse on all other parts, though. Less clear, text-heavy, less funny, and they still require fanmyopia to know it's more than a single occurrence that won't impact anything in the future.

I figured; just played along with it.

edited 4th Aug '12 7:54:02 PM by AnotherDuck

No, that was a typo that I didn't catch...definitely needs a thread, though.

edited 4th Aug '12 7:03:52 AM by Willbyr

The stormtrooper is funny. Funny wins.

Also: Everyone has seen Star Wars. Everyone. It is not an obscure reference.

edited 6th Aug '12 11:27:05 AM by FastEddie