Unclear Description: Step Three Profit

Step Three Profit is a bit of a mess. The examples seem to revolve around two tropes: The first is the comedic "Several Step Plans with a step missing". Those are examples like the Trope Namer, Loading Ready Run, Space Balls, etc... These are almost always done as a joke.

The other variation is "Troper X saw work Y, decided there was a plot hole, and decided that writing this in a "step 1, Step 2, Step 3" format made him clever". Those are... less good. First of all, because most of these don't involve plans presented in bullet form in the work itself. Also a lot of them on the very page itself aren't even examples (Ditto for some of the wicks). Pretty much all the Spiderman film examples are incorrect, ignoring scenes of their respective movies to make a more clever entry (Harry's goal is to ruin Peter's life, not "profit", and getting MJ to dump him is one part of said plan. His father's second step was sound: Show Peter how he's hated by the people he was trying to protect and how much he'd gain by joining him).

EDIT: I also noticed some examples are about plans with nebulous goals. Like the Pokemon example (What IS a Pokemon Master??? but the rest of the plan is logically sound: Find Pokemons, Train Pokemons, Win badges, win the championship).

edited 16th Apr '13 7:11:23 AM by CobraPrime

Looking through the examples one must wonder if this article is for showcasing stuff you like as a meme or if their is a legitimate trope masquerading as a meme.

The trope is about "Plans that do not have a logical connection between the outcome and the actions", but yes it's written up as a meme. Reminder that memes suck.

It should get the meme written off of it.

Wait, you mean this is not about the stock phrase?

So then the tag is "Misused", not "Unclear". Memetic misuse is still misuse.

edited 16th Apr '13 9:41:21 AM by Stratadrake

I still go with Unclear, because it is used two, different ways. One of them might be misuse too.

The name is definitely a contributing factor.

I don't think speculations or fan interpretations of this are a trope. Most of those examples can probably safely be cut.

Someone actually stating their plan, not necessarily as a list, but at least with clearly disconnected events, is a trope.

The problem is probably to separate them all.

@Cobra: Memes are like Stock Phrases — if the only reason you're linking to it is a meme, and not because the context you're using it is consistent with the definition you're linking to, that's misuse.

edited 16th Apr '13 1:58:22 PM by Stratadrake

The way I see it, this has to be played for comedy, ie: it's obvious to the audience that the plan doesn't make any sense, and the writer clearly wanted the audience to believe this. Beat Panels, other characters' reactions, etc. Plot holes need not apply.

I suppose there could conceivably be some sort of dramatic use for it, such as lecturing a Anti-Villain about how what they're doing won't achieve their goals, but honestly that feels different enough to me to be a different trope.

edited 16th Apr '13 2:17:13 PM by Clarste

I keep mixing this and Get-Rich-Quick Scheme up. Because this trope's name sounds like the latter. amybe Step Two Blank or Missing Steps Plan

I agree. Missing Steps Plan is a much better name.

Missing Steps Plan

Any way to get "joke" or "comic" in there?

Not necessary. I support Missing Steps Plan as well.

Bad idea. Also could happen if planner was a ditz or a serious lack of thought

edited 16th Apr '13 9:46:13 PM by spacemarine50

And might also start leading to conflation with Disorganised Outline Speech.

edited 16th Apr '13 9:50:48 PM by Noaqiyeum

But The Ditz is a comic character, right? And if a plan dramatically fails through lack of thought, it's not this trope.

Tropes Are Flexible. Many comedy tropes can easily be played for drama. No need to make separate articles for them.

I feel like this needs a rewrite of the description in addition to a new name (possibly more important than a new name). It's basically inviting people to add plotholes, since it claims to be about a plan that doesn't make sense, without emphasizing the important point that it doesn't make sense in universe.

That indeed seems to be a big part of the problem.

I agree with Clarste. The description really seems rambling.

Also, it sounds like this trope is a subtrope of Get-Rich-Quick Scheme, with examples like:

• 1. Buy stocks
• 2. (no idea)
• 3. Sell stocks and become rich

So, a Get-Rich-Quick Scheme that isn't fully thought out.

Another thing: what if the plan relies on luck or something else the planner cannot control or influence. Say with the above example, make step 2: Have stocks rise by a lot. You can't make that happen.

No, this isn't just about getting rich, so no subtrope.

Profit is being misused here as shorthand for "I get what I want".