Does Not Illustrate: Portal Picture

I'm loath to suggest removing such a classic image, but Through the Looking Glass is not an example - it's a Mirror Universe.

Also, it's really, really tall.

Previous thread here. I can also add The Painting that Ate Paris◊ to the list of suggestions. (Pity the portals in Myst are all in the first-person.)

Discuss.

It's not a Mirror Universe (that trope is much less literal), but given that it's not a painting it's either not an example or the description needs to be changed (given that Tropes Are Flexible).

And yeah, it's tall. Maybe something showing Mario entering a painting in Super Mario 64?

EDIT: Having looked through the previous thread... well, I definitely lean towards modifying the description, given that Fast Eddie declared mirrors to count for the trope. But I do agree, it's really tall and a little unclear. Very nice, but not terribly illustrative.

edited 31st May '13 12:41:55 PM by Larkmarn

Reading through the examples, actually, there are a lot of literal mirror universes. We may need a new trope to separate them out - mirror portals tend to lead to Faerieland or some other kind of alternate universe that is directly related to the 'real' world, which picture portals do not.

Yeah. They're not the same trope, but (for obvious reasons) a mirror gateway to a Mirror Universe is quite popular. I think technically it might count as a Magic Mirror, though?

Ah! Yes. Well... most likely (it seems to suggest by the description that 'this mirror is magic', not 'mirrors are magic in general'), but I see that mirror portals are specifically mentioned in the description and Through The Looking-Glass is listed as an example.

Also, probably needs a link to Mirror Monster...

...anyway, that's still a side story. :P

I'm looking for a good shot from Voyage of the Dawn Treader but this◊ is all I can find.

Actually, that isn't terrible. There aren't any better shots in that scene, if Youtube tells me true - they drop the painting under the rising water pretty quickly.

This strip from Brawl In The Family comes to mind.

edited 31st May '13 9:08:47 PM by DRCEQ

That strip does not looks so much like a portal and more like a conversion machine to me. I'd be fine with the The Voyage of the Dawn Threader image.

That is referencing the Portal Paintings in Super Mario 64, which is how you enter each level. That said, I like 6 as well.

edited 1st Jun '13 8:39:28 AM by Rethkir

Also, what's with that quote? I have no idea how that relates to the trope.

Ditch the quote.

Quote ditched.

Classic case of Fan Myopia. No better than making "OF COURSE!" the quote on Take Over the World.

6 is pretty good.

An idea for the page quote:

I must find another way to make the books work. The gateway images in Gehn's Books and our burnt book all seem to share the same sickness: if they are not powered, the images are black. - Catherine, Riven

6; the perspective from the side makes it clearer than the current.

Either half of 6 would work on their own, honestly, though I prefer the bottom half.

I'd 6 so far, because anything is better than the current, it doesn't show this trope, at all. It's a girl closely examining the grain of the woodwork, from what I can see.

edited 1st Jun '13 8:09:10 PM by shoboni

Brush up on your classics -_-

Even knowing where it comes from, it doesn't look like the trope at all.

We have to go by the image itself, not it's background information. Even now that I've noticed the second panel, it doesn't fit the "picture" part.

edited 1st Jun '13 9:05:29 PM by shoboni

Yeah I really can't see anything that looks like a portal in the current picture. Nothing at all.

True, she could be pushing through a curtain of some kind, as far as we know from the picture.

Night At the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian might have good examples.

edited 2nd Jun '13 9:18:30 AM by shoboni

Bump.