In uffish thought
Previous thread.
This suggestion involving a knight almost went up
◊, and I still prefer it to the current.
Your first two suggestions are okay. Better than the current.
That was the amazing part. Things just keep going.
Dragon Writer
Yeah, current is most definitely JAFAACnote . And that means pull first, replace later.
An Ear Worm is like a Rickroll: It is never going to give you up.
I like the knight. It just need a good caption.
I prefer the knight. 1.1 would rank second. The nail third, and 1.2 fourth in my preferences.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
No, the other one.
Prefer the knight.
Check out my fanfiction!
The imaginative Christian Asperger
I don't know.
The knight seems JAFAAC to me.
It's a knight that could participate in the tournament if it didn't have a nail stuck in its foot.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
The imaginative Christian Asperger
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
And how's that related to this, besides being literal?
It it the reason why the timeline's different than what we know of from a certain work?
Just because he couldn't participate in the tournament doesn't automatically mean history would change dramatically.
1.1 gets my vote, as it shows that one small difference caused the history of the world to change dramatically very quickly.
edited 26th Aug '13 9:31:04 AM by KarjamP
I'm currently for blanking it.
Current's obviously no good, just illustrating the trope name.
Ditto the knight. No illustration of a ripple effect or change. Heck, it's certainly possible to not even realize what's going on there, but even if you do, it's still not illustrative.
The webcomics... are just too wordy. I feel they don't really add anything.
Found a Youtube Channel with political stances you want to share? Hop on over to this page and add them.
I like 1.1. I think the knight's too small to tell what's happening clearly, and it doesn't illustrate the trope (as there's no alternate timeline at all).
Hi
I like the knight pic, but 1.2's first two panels are a better depiction of the trope...although if you don't have the title of the comic with it, it might not be clear as to how he could've done that. Even if we don't decide on anything, I'm voting to pull the current.
edited 26th Aug '13 3:57:36 PM by Willbyr
Dragon Writer
Lazy dog (1.1) doesn't work, it almost looks like Godwin's Law of Time Travel.
As for 1.3, y'know that flowchart is awesomenote . Maybe we could do an image in flowchart format?
edited 26th Aug '13 6:39:06 PM by Stratadrake
An Ear Worm is like a Rickroll: It is never going to give you up.
Unfortunately, 1.3 isn't showing up for me on iPhone. Does it use Flash?
Hi
No, it's just really freakin' big.
1.3 is 4144 px × 2797 px. Youch! Let's stay away from that.
Image Source. Please update whenever an image is changed.
I have no idea what "lazy dog" or "lazy cat" is supposed to be referring to, so to me, 1.1 doesn't illustrate the trope even slightly. I doubt I'm alone.
That should be a general rule, if it isn't already one. Any pic where you need previous knowledge in order to understand why it illustrates the trope is a bad pic in my opinion.
1.2 is adequate, but only just.
The knight pic is too small to easily see what's going on.
In my opinion, panel 3 from 1.3 is the best choice from those so far on offer.
Edit: I found the original and cut it down to the relevant detail. I still only like the cut down version about the same as I like 1.3 for relevance.
edited 27th Aug '13 7:25:49 AM by Melkior
Absent-minded professor and Neverwinter Nights DM
The lack of the tournament is a con to that pic version.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Gentleman Troper!
Yes; without the tournament, it illustrates the title rather than the trope.
Rhetorical, eh? ... Eight!
& Agreed. But the lack of detail is a con to using the shrunk down version of the whole pic. 1.3, panel 3 still has the edge in my mind, but I wanted to provide another option just in case others disagree.
The whole knight pic might work if we use as a caption, the whole of the old saying. "For want of a nail, the shoe was lost..." etc. But that's sailing dangerously close to JAFAAC territory.
edited 27th Aug '13 8:00:44 AM by Melkior
Absent-minded professor and Neverwinter Nights DM
The imaginative Christian Asperger
Even WITH the tournament, how does that make history different from the current by either being an alternate universe or having the history altered by an time traveler.
Gosh, it appears that this thread needs an Trope Repair Shop thread for having an ambiguous name, since just because it's named after a poem or something that says "just because of a little thing, a big thing can't happen", it doesn't mean it actually is, as it's more than that, according to the trope definition.
If the name's changed, then we might need to ALSO start a thread for In Spite of a Nail for being a snowclone to this trope, and might not make as much sense without knowledge this trope's current name.
edited 27th Aug '13 9:02:47 AM by KarjamP
No, the other one.
It's not an expression we made up though.
Check out my fanfiction!
Do the time travel elements matter so much as to preclude an image that doesn't involve time travel? Just because we don't literally have multiple universes to compare doesn't mean it isn't still illustrative of the same general idea that a change in one event has far-reaching consequences. Tropes Are Not Narrow.
Although... do we have a page on The Butterfly Effect, and if so what differentiates it from this one? I know that's also the name of a work...
In uffish thought
Butterfly of Doom is what you're looking for. It is claimed to be a subtrope of For Want Of A Nail, dealing specifically with the negative outcome of making a tiny change to the past.
edited 27th Aug '13 11:18:46 AM by Telcontar
That was the amazing part. Things just keep going.
The imaginative Christian Asperger
But the trope explicitly says "An Alternate Timeline or Elseworld (often in time travel stories) in which one small change has a ripple effect, resulting in massive change," and is listed under both the "otherworld" index and the "time travel" index.
Laconic: "A single small change snowballs into a major change of events."
I think the trope should be transplanted under a new name and the trope with this name should be a super trope (ie, a small thing has big consequences) to this one.
In otherwords, I think this trope's suffering from Missing Supertrope Syndrome because of what you've said.
When a Trope Repair Shop slot's open, can someone please do this for me?
It NEVER seems to be open for me nowadays.
edited 27th Aug '13 11:25:15 AM by KarjamP
Well, Just A Nail And A Caption, to be precise. But this illustrates the title rather than the trope, because it's clearly not about literal nails. So I think the current pic should be pulled.
Possible suggestions for replacements include this strip
or more likely this one
(first two panels). It would be great to do something with this one
but I can't see that working at wiki size.
Rhetorical, eh? ... Eight!