Does Not Illustrate: OOC Is Serious Business

The current picture isn't a good illustration; the trope is more about a character reacting to the OOC-ness of another, rather than just the fact one is acting out of character.

I can suggest a Sinfest strip as replacement (last panel, or first+last panel).

Previous thread.

I dunno that the suggestion is that much of an improvement, if any, but we can hash it out.

edited 13th Mar '15 9:55:15 PM by Willbyr

I agree with the OP, the trope is more about the implications of the behavior than the behavior itself.

The suggestion to use just the last frame alone seems better to me.

edited 14th Mar '15 12:20:38 AM by rodneyAnonymous

It doesn't necessarily need to be dramatic, though; it can be Played for Laughs. For example, the top right panel here.

As somebody who's never read Sinfest before, and can mentally put panels from that one strip together, I think I can say that if this picture replaced the QC one, the problem would probably get worse. I think the best thing we can do is try to find a bit more context for the panel we already have.

The last frame of the suggestion in the OP is fine.

Yeah, that suggestion is fine.

I don't know... the OP suggestion is just someone lampshading the trope. Remove the person, and nothing will really change.

I prefer One Piece.

That one's worse than either the current or the OP suggestion.

edited 14th Mar '15 3:17:03 AM by AnotherDuck

I prefer the One Piece one as well. It's the only one where you actually see the character doing the action and others reacting. Everything else is just another character commenting on the OOC action, and could work better as a page quote.

But there's nothing that says it's an out of character reaction.

The One Piece pic is essentially the same as the current, except that it's two characters reacting to the other's OOC-ness instead of one.

edited 14th Mar '15 8:06:58 AM by Willbyr

Clock is set.

Should we run a crowner of the suggestions? Leave the current image alone? Or zap it?

The current is kinda weak but not nearly bad enough to warrant an outright pull...I'll need to take a look at the Sinfest suggestion (when I can) before making a decision on a crowner, as the One Piece pic isn't an improvement.

It's a character looking to the side and going "Huh, that person isn't acting normal."

So...literally the same as all the other options.

It's not the same. It's someone saying "that's OOC, serious business" and the others say only "that's OOC".

No, the others also say it's serious business.

I don't see that even a little bit.

Current one's quote and expression clearly displays serious business.

Characters in my suggestion freaking out displays serious business.

I think current page image is still the strongest suggestion. I do have the advantage of being familiar enough with the canon to know how OOC the character on the right is being, but I think it's better than the suggestion in #1 for two reasons:

1. It displays the OOC behavior and reaction to it together (the character on the right is pretty clearly shocked - it's visible both in her pose and in the tempo of her dialogue).
2. It's a single panel, clear and legible.

Suggestion in #1 is fine - if we had no image, I would support it - but I don't think the art style communicates the concept as cleanly.

As for #4, I think it has the same problem as the suggestion in #1, but much more intensely - there's so much happening in the panel that I completely missed the shocked characters hiding in the left side the first two times I looked at it.

I admit that there's a lot of my own aesthetic preferences in my vote, but I vote for current over either suggestion.

edited 5th May '15 7:46:20 AM by RobinZimm

Alright, the clock's way past due and this thread's spinning its wheels. Locking as inconclusive.