Needs Help: Anyone Can Die

I'm no huge fan of the gravestone pictures. Just saying, because I get that you all like the idea.

Me neither, but in the face of other even more lackluster suggestions, I lean that way.

I'm actually not liking them either. They feel too image-macro-y.

I've been trying to find images of dead famous characters together to illustrate this trope. This one's◊ pretty good, but it might be a little too violent what with the dead Captain America.

There's this one◊ too, which isn't as bloody.

edited 4th May '13 4:54:22 PM by Camberf

I think the first one works. What concerns me is the general lack of Killed Off for Real in comics, which is mentioned in the description of the trope.

But shouldn't it be more like a single famous character who is dead? The first image made me LOL, the goriness of it and all, but it actually feels like Everybody's Dead, Dave where all characters die, and not a main important character who seemed to be guaranteed to survive the story.

Your second is supposed to be who? To me that is just a skeleton (not that I want to be too negative).

edited 4th May '13 5:08:12 PM by XFllo

Overall, I agree with that.

The main challenge with finding in my opinion is that this trope is not about a specific event but a format where anyone can die. The trope is about a setup where any character - irrespective of their centrality to the plot or setting - can be killed off at any time, any place without necessarily with any pomp and ceremony; especially in a show/setting where we, the audience, wouldn't normally expect this to happen. Which is why horror movies don't automatically get classified as this. It is not enough to just show lots of people dying or a major character killed off.

This is also why comic books wouldn't make a good example for a page pic. It's rare that a comic book character - especially a major character - gets Killed Off for Real. Most eventually get resurrected within a few years or decade. Most of the permanent deaths occur during the hero's origins.

As such, the best example out there that I can think of would be a picture of (or a picture of a report of) a Real Life tragic accident where the victim was doing something innocuous and normal at the time (e.g. crossing the road, sleeping in bed, going to school, etc). However, that would be too goddamned depressing. Hence why I went with my second best thought - the headstone.

When choosing the headstone, I deliberately went with <insert name> as a way of conveying how interchangeable and unpredictable the person in the ground's identity is (in relation to plot and setting), with the date likewise being left a mystery as well.

edited 4th May '13 5:47:44 PM by peasant

I also like the tombstone version, but I'd suggest having the name as "The Hero", followed by "Born: Yep" "Died: For real" and the epitaph "You can't kill me, I have plot armo..." The caption could then be "It turns out, he didn't"

edited 6th May '13 7:53:11 AM by Melkior

In the meantime, do we have enough of a consensus to pull the current? Really want to get rid of that (and the corresponding non-example in the Comics Section... pretty sure the only reason it's there is because of the image).

I can't even tell who that's supposed to be. Pull it.

Cull it.

Yep, pull the current image.

On the suggestions, I do like the tombstone in 6, the only problem is the "watermark" with the site on it. If we could get rid of it, it'd be great.

Image pulled.

Now this leaves us without an image, which begs the question: do we even need an image?

Why not?

No page technically needs an image, but a cake without frosting is pretty bland. That said, unless someone can come up with something beyond the jokey tombstone pics, it may not be worth the effort.

Uh.. I vote for 29.1 then.

Does anyone have a copy of the penultimate Harry Potter film where Dumbledore dies? He's a main character who's killed off for real. Maybe a screencap from that film would be appropriate, at least until/unless the films retreat into obscurity with age.

This space intentionally left blank.

edited 6th May '13 10:27:33 PM by rodneyAnonymous

I'm going to quote Handling Spoilers on this one:

Ugh. You're right. (bangs head against wall) It might be difficult to find a non-spoiler non-comic picture in that case.

Clock is set.

Clock's up; locking for inactivity/lack of consensus. No further action is to be taken based on this thread.