Follow TV Tropes

Following

The Grand Unified Appearance Trope Clean-up:

Go To

On TV Tropes, it's very common for editors to misuse appearance tropes, as well as tropes whose names make them sound like they could be appearance tropes.

Meaningful Appearance tropes are often misused in ways that overlook the "Meaningful" aspect, resulting in Zero Context Examples and misuse in the form of examples that have no meaning even if the tropes themselves are not People Sit on Chairs.

The Appearance Tropes Cleanup sandbox covers tropes with potential issues. Tropes that simply require cleanup will go through this thread, while tropes that require more significant action will have to go through the Trope Repair Shop.

April 2, 2023 update: This thread is no longer for making changes to tropes, and was brought back from the Projects Morgue solely for cleanup. Making changes to tropes is still a job for the Trope Repair Shop.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Apr 2nd 2023 at 9:18:26 AM

MarqFJA The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer from Deserts of the Middle East (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
Willbyr Hi (Y2K) Relationship Status: With my statistically significant other
Hi
#427: Mar 22nd 2013 at 6:19:24 AM

Would the A10 clips in Neon Genesis Evangelion count as a hair dec or do they fall under another trope? I know Asuka uses them as such in-series but their primary role isn't for that.

Noaqiyeum Trans Siberian Anarchestra (it/they) from the gentle and welcoming dark (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
Trans Siberian Anarchestra (it/they)
#428: Mar 22nd 2013 at 5:24:53 PM

They count, but I think they're better-suited for something else... Hat of Power is the closest thing I can find. Apparently there's no trope for headgear that augments mental abilities. o_O (There are a lot on Mind-Control Device, but the A10 clips are one of several examples I can think of that don't fit there.)

edited 22nd Mar '13 5:25:05 PM by Noaqiyeum

The Revolution Will Not Be Tropeable
MarqFJA The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer from Deserts of the Middle East (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
#429: Mar 23rd 2013 at 9:32:28 AM

I am having trouble finding the distinction between Strong Family Resemblance and Uncanny Family Resemblance (too many of their examples are shared), to the point where I'm wondering if they're more or less the same trope. Do you think this is a job for this thread?

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
Hermiethefrog Since: Jan, 2001
#430: Mar 23rd 2013 at 11:21:14 AM

Uncanny family resemblance says "Not to be confused with Strong Family Resemblance, where an animated character looks like one of their parents" so I assume uncanny is meant to be when the same actor plays different characters in the same family. Maybe we should limited strong to animated and uncanny to live action?

ArcadesSabboth from Mother Earth Since: Oct, 2011
#431: Mar 23rd 2013 at 12:10:09 PM

[up]I know of WesternAnimation.Gargoyles examples that should fit Uncanny Family Resemblance. The gargoyles species is so variable that every individual looks like a separate species... except this collection of extras who keep re-using the same dozen character models (including identical clothes and armor) after the previous character died. The supposed explanation is that they're relatives. But named gargoyle characters are never identical twins of their relatives, not even of their own evil twins. Also the Weird Sisters in the same series do this with their uncanny/creepy triplets thing, especially when in gargoyle form.

edited 23rd Mar '13 12:13:29 PM by ArcadesSabboth

Oppression anywhere is a threat to democracy everywhere.
MacronNotes (she/her) (Captain) Relationship Status: Less than three
(she/her)
#432: Mar 23rd 2013 at 11:13:46 PM

Is there anything more to Redheaded Hero than having red hair and being a hero? It's filled with zero context examples and normally I would have commented out all of them and expand on the examples I know.... except I don't know what other important context is needed besides being a redhead. The description and examples that do have context focus on the hair colour rather than personality traits and/or roles associated to it besides saying that these characters tend to be Fiery Redheads, (which in that case, wouldn't they fit in that article better instead?). I'm beginning to wonder about the tropability in this...

edited 23rd Mar '13 11:29:48 PM by MacronNotes

Macron's notes
SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#433: Mar 24th 2013 at 2:39:48 AM

Red-Headed Hero is about red hair being used to point out heroic characters.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
MarqFJA The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer from Deserts of the Middle East (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
#434: Mar 24th 2013 at 11:31:07 AM

... Do we have a Red Is Heroic trope, and if so, is there merit for simply making Redheaded Hero one form out of many that said trope can take?

EDIT: Huh, guess we do have Red Is Heroic.

edited 24th Mar '13 11:34:01 AM by MarqFJA

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
lexicon Since: May, 2012
#435: Mar 24th 2013 at 12:23:50 PM

I've been wondering about Redheaded Hero myself. Is it actually better then Blue Haired Wizard? As mods have said, a trait with a hair color doesn't make a trope by it's self.

Noaqiyeum Trans Siberian Anarchestra (it/they) from the gentle and welcoming dark (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
Trans Siberian Anarchestra (it/they)
#436: Mar 24th 2013 at 3:58:59 PM

Red hair also suggests what kind of hero they are - bits of Fiery Redhead, Redheaded Stepchild, and so forth, and why these traits are identified as heroic. Rather like Blondes Are Evil.

The Revolution Will Not Be Tropeable
MacronNotes (she/her) (Captain) Relationship Status: Less than three
(she/her)
#438: Mar 24th 2013 at 8:10:49 PM

[up][up] So, should these traits be mentioned in the examples and/or description? Because I really want to fix those ZCEs...

edited 24th Mar '13 8:11:11 PM by MacronNotes

Macron's notes
MissKitten Luminescent Blush Since: Jul, 2012
#439: Mar 24th 2013 at 8:14:47 PM

Just though I put a heads up for this YKTTW.

lu127 Paper Master from 異界 Since: Sep, 2011 Relationship Status: Crazy Cat Lady
#440: Mar 25th 2013 at 11:34:12 AM

Red-Headed Hero seems like it would serve better if merged with Red Is Heroic. Assigning the quality of heroism to a more generalised frame of the colour red instead of just the hair would probably help keep the bad examples to a minimum.

edited 25th Mar '13 11:34:26 AM by lu127

"If you aren't him, then you apparently got your brain from the same discount retailer, so..." - Fighteer
Leaper Since: May, 2009
#441: Mar 25th 2013 at 12:00:45 PM

The reason there are so many Zero Context Examples on Redheaded Hero is that the description does not support any significance to having red hair other than... having red hair.

willthiswork Since: Oct, 2012
#442: Mar 25th 2013 at 12:07:04 PM

You know, I was thinking over Green Eyes the other night and I think I might have come up with something that sort of covers many of the used of both green eyes and blue eyes as well as red hair and possibly blond hair. I think the reason those colors are so dispropotionatly common might have a lot lot do with higher saturation being more eye-catching. If you assume that a work wants to stick with 'real' coloration if they want a character's appearence to make them stand out giving them red hair or green eyes or blue eyes (bright blue, not grey-blue) is a way to do it. So you are going to see those things on main characters as well as characters who are meant to be exotic or attractive far more often than you would see them on background character and far more often than you see them on real people. I know Green Eyed Red Head sort of covers this idea going off of red hair and green eyes being rare in real life and therefor characters with both in ficton are often important, but I think that the color simply being brighter than other real hair and eye colors like brown, black, grey, or hazel might have a lot to do with it as well.

Not sure if that is a working basis for a trope, but I thought I would share it anyway.

lexicon Since: May, 2012
#443: Mar 25th 2013 at 12:26:23 PM

Maybe the idea of Redheaded Hero would work if it was limited to heroic redheads but currently it seems to list any main character with red hair.

MacronNotes (she/her) (Captain) Relationship Status: Less than three
(she/her)
#444: Mar 25th 2013 at 8:42:49 PM

Merging Redheaded Hero with Red Is Heroic sounds reasonable.

In order to get things moving so we can work on something else, I'll try cook up a YKTTW for "An unusual trait that marks you as special" as one of the tropes that will replace Mismatched Eyes but I don't know what to call it...

Macron's notes
MarqFJA The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer from Deserts of the Middle East (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
ArcadesSabboth from Mother Earth Since: Oct, 2011
#446: Mar 25th 2013 at 10:41:08 PM

Special People Look Different ?

Oppression anywhere is a threat to democracy everywhere.
shimaspawn from Here and Now Since: May, 2010 Relationship Status: In your bunk
#447: Mar 27th 2013 at 9:22:43 AM

Let's finish Mismatched Eyes first and not just keep jumping on every new trope as it comes up. We have a lot of tropes to get through and we aren't going to manage it if we keep getting side tracked.

Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. Dick
Ironeye Cutmaster-san from SoCal Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Falling within your bell curve
Cutmaster-san
#448: Mar 27th 2013 at 1:28:13 PM

Linked the to-do list in the header. Looks like Evil Eye will be renamed soon, not that that changes the task much—we'll just want to hold off on moving everything until that's resolved early next week.

When making the Connecting Oddity supertrope, Family Eye Resemblance will be a subtrope, and we can move examples there as appropriate


Since resolving Windows To The Soul is necessary to finishing up Mismatched Eyes, I'm also putting that on the table.

There is support in the TRS thread to coming up with an "eyes are connected to magic" supertrope, which could solve the shoehorning problem and get rid of the extreme overlap between Elemental Eye Colors and Windows To The Soul. I'm not sure we need a general "eye color matters" trope to collect examples, but I do think we could stand to have an example-less supertrope.

I'm bad, and that's good. I will never be good, and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me.
XFllo There is no Planet B from Planet A Since: Aug, 2012
There is no Planet B
#449: Apr 2nd 2013 at 10:54:53 AM

I'd like to join this thread and offer my help. However, the thread is very long and also there were other threads... Too long, did read only parts of them.

First, I'd like to ask about Brown Eyes. Were they already discussed? Or will they be on the table in the future? I could't find it. But I noticed that they were merged with Hazel Eyes. I approve. I was surprised when I saw them as two distinct tropes. For me hazel eyes equal brown eyes, but I see not many examples were moved (e.g. from Jane Austen's Emma or Jane Eyre).

On the topic of Mismatched Eyes: Is there already a consensus what to do with the trope? I saw the Duality Motif thread in ykttw. Is there anything else to do? It's bad that crowners are still down.

I recall only two instances from fiction. Jane Seymour has them, and some shots in Dr Quinn clearly showed them. However, there was no meaning to it, so it's Chairs.

"Belly Speaker" of Murdoch Mysteries played with the concept. A LOT. The murder victim has one blue eye and one brown eye. His son has them, too, and he's a ventriloquist and his doll (Demonic Dummy) has them as well because he is meant to represent him. Detective Murdoch finds out later that the doll stands in for his twin brother actually. If I remember correctly, there was a twist that each twin had mirrored mismatched eyes (one had his left eye blue and the other had his left eye brown). They release him, thinking that the second twin committed the murder of their father. But they find out at the end that the second twin has been dead all along, buried somewhere in the room, and the murderer is on the run.

It could fit in the duality motif or the creepiness factor. It can cover the dual nature (I think common w/ Twin Tropes?) or that two people are related (a family thing in this case). Hope I am not twisting the concept to make it fit.

edited 2nd Apr '13 11:02:45 AM by XFllo

SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#450: Apr 2nd 2013 at 10:56:05 AM

Welcome to this topicgrin.

Brown Eyes is on the to-do list. The Mismatched Eyes to-do list is here.

edited 2nd Apr '13 10:56:24 AM by SeptimusHeap

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

Total posts: 3,217
Top