Misused: The Brigadier

The trope in question is one about a person who is a military officer in a sci-fi work that regularly fights against threats from outside Earth, while on Earth.

This trope though has issues with people who simply use it as a short-hand for one character, namely a Doctor Who character for whom the trope is named. This especially happens in Doctor Who examples on trope pages.

The name also makes it quite non-descriptive of whom the character is, and has some issues with people who use it to refer to the actual rank of Brigadier, such as in this Final Fantasy character page, where the note says simply 'his rank', and doesn't refer to who they fight or how. This extends quite a bit into zero context examples on lots of pages, where no link is made between them being a military officer and who they fight, often seemingly just used as a rank descriptor.

edited 24th Dec '14 2:03:54 AM by RatherRandomRachel

"Any senior military person in a sci-fi drama who is a good guy."

How is this a trope at all? Is there a sister trope for senior military persons not in sci-fi dramas who are good guys? Cut.

Well, there IS a trope for senior military persons who AREN'T good guys, but that's not sci-fi specific.

Chop the 'sci fi' part and make pretty much General Big Good.

Two observations: 1) The name is too obscure to anybody not familiar with the Dr. Who character. I'm not even sure that all people who are familiar with the character will make the connection. 2) Is there any reason whatsoever to limit this to science fiction settings?

So this was named for a Doctor Who character?

Yeah, never watched Doctor Who and have no idea who The Brigadier is. Recommend either cutting, or doing as suggested above and expanding the trope to all genres with a title like General Good Guy or something.

Not sure if using General would be a smart idea, because it is also an adjective.

I wasn't saying rename it to exactly that but in general that what this is really. The biggest issue with this trope is it is far too specific and the name is just a military rank.

Sounds like Reasonable Authority Figure

So, looking over this trope and the reactions so far... would it be more useful to change it to a non Sci Fi 'General Big Good', or just cut it?

I'm honestly inclined to remove the Sci Fi part, because while we have General Ripper and Four-Star Badass, we don't seem to have anything for a Reasonable Authority Figure in the form of a high ranking military officer.

What's wrong with Reasonable Authority Figure being the trope? We could redirect to that.

Most of the description on Reasonable Authority Figure does not apply to General Big Good I think.

What doesn't apply? Be specific, please.

So you're suggesting General Big Good for the name? While it certainly makes more sense (even to me, and I'm familiar with the character) the other meaning of "general" pretty much blocks that as a potential name. Military Big Good gets around the "general" problem.

I like Millitary Big Good. Commander Big Good has a nice ring to it too. Commander Good Guy?

Commander Good Guy doesn't work quite as well.

Commander Big Good sounds good. Military Big Good limits it purely to military which cuts out semi-military organizations such as Starfleet and Shield.

Commander Good, Commander Nice, Good Guy Commander, Good Guy General?

I still don't have an answer: Why is this character not a Reasonable Authority Figure?

they just want to list military examples of RAF in one page.

I think the main difference between this and Reasonable Authority Figure is it's very rare to have someone in a commanding military position on the hero's side who's not a General Ripper or an Obstructive Bureaucrat. This still would be a subtrope of Reasonable Authority Figure as he is reasonable and actively on the hero's side. Given the general usage of military officers/commanders/generals in fiction, it definitely is distinct.

I think this answers your question.

Reasonable Authority Figure is already a rare trope to encounter, irrelevant of military.

True. Although I don't think it's Too Rare To Trope.

Looking at the two tropes again, I think this is more of a sister trope than a subtrope, although it could be both, maybe. A Reasonable Authority Figure can be anyone with a position of public authority. But having military authority/power has different implications than a mayor/principal/father.

Plus, this opens it up if the hero is in the military and the officer is their superior. Not exclusively that, of course. There are different implications getting the hero's commander to back them, than say the town mayor.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that this trope isn't The Same But More Specific of Reasonable Authority Figure. I think...

edited 8th Jan '15 10:29:46 PM by pokedude10

I really don't think "Good Guy" should be part of the trope name - it may lead people to think it's a male-specific trope.

Seeing how good female generals / admirals are absurdly rare in fiction I don't see that as a huge problem.

But really a anything is better than the current even something like Military Da Chief works better.

Given the Trope Namer, I thought of this as the Military Equivalent of The Commissioner Gordon (EDIT: And is actually listed as such on the latter page).

i.e. it's not who he helps, it's where he's at and/or how he provides the help. If The Doctor got regular assistance from someone in the SCO Directorate, said helper would be The Commissioner Gordon.

Of course, he is in the "military list" between Four Star and Colonel Badass, so perhaps a renaming is in order: Hero's Military Liaison? Nah, that sounds like Friend on the Force, but for the Military...

edited 22nd Jan '15 8:36:15 PM by DonaldthePotholer