Seems like the examples mostly overlap. I would be fine with a merge.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Dragon Writer
Can't say I'm surprised to see this, esp. given the precedent set by the pirate equivalent.note
There could be something worthwhile in having a Random Ninja Encounter or something (as illustrated by the Nanowrimo version of Chandler's Law), but....
edited 28th Jul '13 8:10:22 AM by Stratadrake
An Ear Worm is like a Rickroll: It is never going to give you up.
But ninja tend to be thrown into a story gratuitously and it's more conspicuous than a gratuitously added pirate because a ninja would be so out of place for the setting (ironic huh?) It also gets called out more.
edited 28th Jul '13 8:40:45 AM by MikuruFan
That sounds like a reason to rename to Gratuitous Ninja.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Looking through the examples on the trope page, I don't find many examples of ninja in a work about ninja. There's an obviously wrong example for Naruto.
Another observation is that some of these are actually Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot.
Gentleman Troper!
The isue with "Gratuitous X" tropes is that they tend to degenerate into a "List of all X in fiction".
Rhetorical, eh? ... Eight!
That sounds like what Ninja is to me.
Gentleman Troper!
Yes, but so is IAJAN.
Rhetorical, eh? ... Eight!
Merge with ninja. Optionally, YKTTW "Gratuitous Ninja," but that shouldn't hold this up.
Seeing the examples on Ninja, the examples on IAJAJ look like they would fit better there, or on its sub tropes.
I'm okay with a merge.
Dragon Writer
^^ I think Random Ninja Encounter would work better than Gratuitous Ninja as a concept (and name), because it implies basically "then, BLAM! Ninja" and not just "ninja appears somewhere in this work", which is the claim against GN.
edited 29th Jul '13 9:21:03 AM by Stratadrake
An Ear Worm is like a Rickroll: It is never going to give you up.
Random Ninja Encounter sounds good and is more indicative than the current name. I'd vote for it.
I like that. I would support a plain rename now.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Gentleman Troper!
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
I concur.
I prefer "BLAM! Ninja!," but I suppose I'll have to live with Random Ninja Encounter.
Gentleman Troper!
"Big Lipped Alligator Ninja"?
Rhetorical, eh? ... Eight!
Big Bad Snowclone.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Dragon Writer
I considered phrasing it as "Big Lipped Ninja Moment", but that's also a Bad Snowclone (worse, even).
edited 29th Jul '13 11:43:31 AM by Stratadrake
An Ear Worm is like a Rickroll: It is never going to give you up.
Guys, I was joking. It was just a reference to Stratadake summarizing the trope as "Blam! Ninja!"
Hurler of Swine
Perhaps we could include "and then BLAM! Ninja." in the description? :P
So how would people define this trope? Is this supposed to be only about ninja's that appear in situations that normally don't have ninja's, like golfing, or what?
The description is about ninjas being inserted just because. The examples look all like "ninja" to me.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
"Just because" as opposed to what?
As opposed to fitting into the universe or environment.
Crown Description:
Just like the "Everything's X with Y" set of tropes, the "Instant X just add Y" tropes are about how a work is simply better if it contains some Y, in this case ninja. In practice, Instant Awesome, Just Add Ninja has become a set of tropes commonly associated with ninja, as well as a list of works that focus on ninj'ing, or that contain a ninja somewhere.
However, we also have the straightforward page Ninja, which is exactly the same thing, as well as an index of Ninja Tropes which covers the trope list once more. This strikes me as clear duplication: Instant Awesome, Just Add Ninja is simply the same page as, and has no other purpose than, Ninja.
If you see a bit of deja vu here, well, we just had the exact same discussion about this trope's Pirate equivalent. In this case, IAJAN does have 619 wicks / 494 inbounds, its counterpart Ninja has 1671 wicks / 479 inbounds. Nevertheless I suggest merging the pages, because there's no purpose to having both; and of course a merge would preserve the inbounds. I think the name Ninja which is the clearest and most concise of the two.
Rhetorical, eh? ... Eight!