Needs Help: Always Someone Better

There's a lot of confusion between this trope and Always Second Best, to the point that at least half the examples I'm seeing on Someone Better seem like they would fit better in Second Best. It's not helped by the fact that the distinction between the two is barely spelled out in their descriptions, and Always Someone Better doesn't talk about the distinction at all.

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I originally thought the difference was that Always Second Best was about a character who's always second best to a specific other character, and Always Someone Better was when characters find out that no matter how good they become, and how many people they beat, there's always someone else who's better. And when (or if) they beat that character, someone even better comes along. But apparently that's not the case, since both of them seem to be more about the first, reading the description.

edited 6th Sep '14 7:25:15 AM by AnotherDuck

There's definitely a distinction here. Always Second Best is about someone who always does well but never wins (so they can have a Rival they're focused on defeating, or just make them a Butt-Monkey by never letting them catch a break and win just once), while Always Someone Better is about someone who usually wins but is occasionally upstaged (to show that while they're very good, they're not the best).

Always Second Best is generally used to provide drama or angst for the character in question (they really want to be best, but they just can't make it), while Always Someone Better is more used to provide motivation or determination to improve (they thought they were as good as they could be, until someone else shows up and proves them wrong).

edited 6th Sep '14 8:11:15 AM by NativeJovian

I think the distinction is simpler than that: Always Second Best is about the character who can't win, while Always Someone Better is about the other character, who comes in out of nowhere and is better than the existing character (to show that they're a big fish in a small pond). The focus is on completely different people in the story, so they can overlap without being redundant. And sometimes they don't overlap at all.

I would kind of assume a mix of both of those interpretations myself, but I don't think the descriptions are very clear about them.

Odd, I thought Always Someone Better was a Super-Trope to Always Second Best, Can't Catch Up, Overshadowed by Awesome, Second Place Is for Losers, and Shocking Elimination.

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