Misused: Authors Saving Throw

The user Eagal has been deleting entries of Author's Saving Throw off of numerous YMMV pages for being an incorrect use of the trope (which is not the changing of future iterations as a response to fan complaints in an original work, but only when something is already established to be a certain way, suddenly changed by the authors, then restored to the original version by fan demand; entries under the former are much more common than the latter).

That suggests that unless Eagal is following the trope definition too strictly rather than its intended meaning, either the trope title or its description is too ambiguous and leads to this misuse. It may need an entirely new trope to cover these gutted examples, or the repurposing of an old trope to include them, since I think they merit some sort of inclusion on the YMMV pages as information on how a work or its elements are received by its fans.

edited 23rd Jul '16 1:06:36 PM by AlleyOop

Opening.

Link in title is not working; the system does not like apostrophes. I'll fix it so the page can be connected to this thread.

We'll need to see about the misuses to figure out what to do with them.

At the least so far it's deleted off of at the least Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Strange (2016), Batman Vs Superman, Captain America: Civil War^* in his own words, "Author's Saving Throw is when a creator changes something, then changes it back because the change was unpopular. Changing Wanda's accent is not Author's Saving Throw unless she appeared before Ageof Ultron with the comprehensible accent. Tony talking about what his decisions cost him isn't Authors Saving Throw because at the end of the day, he's still Iron Man. If his being Iron Man after 3 is unpopular and in the next movie he's stopped being Iron Man again that would be Author's Saving Throw.", and Thor: Ragnarok, for not fitting the trope (for some of these it's been long enough ago that you'll have to dig through the page history).

The following are examples of a series making changes, or Word of God issuing statements, in response to fan criticisms, but which are not specifically "they changed this work in a way that I didn't like, now change it back":

• Agent Carter: After the first season attracted a lot of criticism for its conspicuous lack of black characters in defiance of how diverse New York's population in the 1940s actually was, Season 2 finally did cast the black Reggie Austin as Jason Wilkes... and moved the setting to Los Angeles.
• Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: [too long, but the first example is a complaint that the work lacked comic book characters characters and concepts in the show, despite it being intended to flesh out the MCU's universe, which the writers addressed by putting more in later seasons.
• Spider-Man: Homecoming: The premise being much more grounded and straightforward (by simply focusing on Peter trying to balance his high school/superhero life) than most of the Spider-Man movies that came before is a great sign to fans that the property is being treated with respect, especially those who disliked both of The Amazing Spider-Man films for being too convoluted.
• Amagami: Rihoko's story continuation in Amagami SS+ where her and Junichi finally get together has brought a lot more appreciation towards Rihoko's arc nowadays seeing how the fanbase went ballistic knowing Rihoko lost out in her own arc in the first Amagami season.
• A Midsummer Night's Dream: Played with in the epilogue, which coyly "apologizes" to anyone who didn't like the play. This was more or less formula for the period, and shows again in The Tempest, among other places.
• Alien: Out of the Shadows: River of Pain does this to fix some commonly-mentioned fan complaints about Alien: Resurrection. Not only is the ending of said film directly addressed (it nearly caused another Ice Age because of its damage to the planet), but Weyland-Yutani's fate is reversed by having it reform and resume its role as the dominant Mega Corp. on Earth.
• amiibo: Stand-alone releases of the Bowser and Donkey Kong hybrid amiibos have been spotted, meaning one no longer has to buy a bunch of the Skylanders Superchargers starter packs in order to get them.
• Angel: After Cordelia's much-maligned arc in Season 4 which ended with her put into a coma, the show's 100th episode "You're Welcome" was seen as a massive one for her character as it restored her to the person the fans loved and reaffirmed why she was important to the show and to Angel himself. This despite the fact that she died in the episode, because it was done so beautifully overall.
• Amy: A patch fixed some of the most common issues with the game (the game saves when you reach a Checkpoint, removing the combat camera, and you no longer lose your items or Amy's powers if you die).
• Angry Birds 2: Since the new arena gained hatred for being too hard, they rebalanced it due to negative feedback. Now if only they can remove the lives system.
• Ant-Man: [too long, deals with adding characters and screentime after complaints about their absence]
• Another Century's Episode: [too long, deals with addressing complaints about series representation imbalances and sequel improvements rather than reversing unpopular changes],
• Aquarion Evol: The crossover movie Sousei no Aquarion Love is seen as this, in light of its focus on (an alternate) Yunoha and Jin.
• Arby 'n' the Chief: Jon has confirmed that Season 8 will end on a happier note for the toys, and the preview shows them both alive and well, albeit with amnesia and trapped far away in the galaxy.
• Archipelago Exodus: Yoshimitsu was panned for having too many powers in the Popularity Poll. One quick streamlining later, and the character is much more popular.
• Arrowverse:
  • Ray Palmer developing his shrinking tech, since a lot of fans complained he was too much like Tony Stark.
  • When Constantine got canceled despite a decently sized fan campaign to save it, the series was retconned into being part of this setting and John Constantine himself guest starred in Arrow season 4.
• Assassin's Creed III: Following some lackluster novelisations of AC 2, Brotherhood, Revelations and the first game, Assassin's Creed: Forsaken is a novel that blows expectations out of the water, largely for being mostly original and expanding on Haytham. It also marked the point where the novels got good, and more importantly, stayed good.
• Assassin's Creed Rogue: A very unintentional example after the Unity launch. Rogue's well-received story and characters meant many fans got at least one good Assassin's Creed game in 2014 (although critics preferred Unity).
• Assassin's Creed Syndicate: After criticisms that the usual "Collect the items to get a special outfit" outfit in Unity was lackluster, being a cosmetic skin only, Syndicate has an armour that knocks off twenty percent of all damage.
• Assassin's Creed: Unity:
• After Unity's disastrous launch, Ubisoft have made the Dead Kings expansion free for all players, and people who had previously purchased the now-defunct Season Pass, will get a new Ubisoft game for free.
• Players responded negatively to the use of Initiates and a tie-in app to unlock certain chests. Later patches removed those requirements, allowing any player to access them.
• Asunder: The entire book seems designed to address fan complaints about the previous game's story.
• Atop the Fourth Wall: There seems to be many of these [AST]. If enough people complain about a perceived plot hole or just that something wasn't addressed, it will most likely be addressed in the next storyline-related episode.

The following are uses of the trope that match with Eagal's and the main page's definitions:

• Alpha Flight: Done in the simplest possible way to remove the revelation that Northstar and Aurora were half-elven: that story came from Loki, and Loki lies. ^* the unpopular reveal that these two were half-elven was reversed by Loki was lying.
• Anita Blake:
  • The change in Richard's character is eventually explained as the result of Anita's magic going out of control, and he reverts to his older characterization when the issue is solved.
  • Hit List, like Obsidian Butterfly before it, features very little of slut!Anita, a focus on a U.S. Marshall case, Edward being awesome, Anita dealing with the ardeur in a calm, rational manner with little wangst, and Anita dealing a nice blow to Mommie Darkest by leveling in badass and using her soul-eating power she gained in ''Obsidian Butterfly.
• Arrowverse: Many think Sara Lance being brought back to life by a Lazarus Pit so she can star in Legends of Tomorrow was done to appease the backlash from killing her off in Arrow.
• Archie Comics' Sonic the Hedgehog:
  • Ian Flynn's fans believe he has managed to pull off a lot of these, especially regarding plots left dangling or satisfied unsatisfactorily by the previous author.
  • A few also see the post-Sonic the Hedgehog/Mega Man: Worlds Collide issues this as well. They essentially save a comic that had many of its characters and lore ripped out due a lawsuit from an embittered ex-writer, by flip-flopping the focus from Sat AM material to Sega material. [maybe, hard to tell since I don't read the comic]
• Asleep: [too long, but writer brought back characters removed from the canon, or changed the circumstances in which several characters were killed off, due to fan backlash]]

The following are pages that don't seem to be this trope at all:

• Atomic Kitten: After three unsuccessful singles, "Whole Again" was an all-or-nothing deal and it saved the band from being dropped.

edited 24th Jul '16 5:41:05 PM by AlleyOop

I think the article's definition should actually be expanded to encompass the misuse. Tropes Are Flexible, after all: why should it be restricted to "creator reverts a change based on criticism" instead of being "creator makes a change based on criticism"?

I'm thinking specifically of things like Cryptic Studios adding technical commentary on Undine ships in Star Trek Online's Delta Rising expansion, to address accusations of fans (some of which I made myself!) that, given the Undine use of Living Ships, Starfleet, the KDF, and the Romulans were practicing Mind Rape to make the ships usable (they were lockbox prizes in season 9). Also things like explaining the frankly nonsensical destruction of Romulus in Film.Star Trek by explaining that the bizarre behavior of the supernova was caused deliberately by a Star Killing weapon.

edited 2nd Aug '16 3:06:10 PM by StarSword

I'm for expanding the definition to include the misuse.

Same here: expand on it to cover misuse.

Thirding expansion.

Fourthed!

Fifthed!

Sixth

Make it so.

Should this be a Trivia trope instead of YMMV? An author changing things because of negative feedback seems like a pretty objective, behind-the-scenes thing to me.

The change is still within the story. The reaction that caused the change is an Audience Reaction.

Also, expanding the trope seems reasonable. The core idea is a change based on fan reaction. I don't think it changes the idea of the trope whether the chance is an original one, or a reversion of a fan-contested change.

I agree with Trivia. The effect can be measured by the story itself and the cause is external to the work. The change may be based on Audience Reactions, but that is not the factual element we're reporting. Audience Reaction:

• Criticize the work for X
• Praise the work for X

• Creator makes a change to the work based on Audience Reaction.

We're measuring a change to the work, not the Audience Reaction itself.

edited 17th Nov '16 8:45:28 AM by crazysamaritan

So you're saying you can't see the change in the story itself?

Whether it's actually a change is still subjective though, as it often depends on the viewers considering it an improvement for it to count.

The reason for the change is external to the work & should therefore be trivia.

edited 17th Nov '16 10:40:04 AM by Spinosegnosaurus77

Change (this is different from before) is not subjective. Improvement (this is better than before) is definitely subjective, and I'd consider it a good point in favour of the trope remaining an opinion-trope instead of moving to a trivia-trope.

However, "not all Author's Saving Throws are necessarily a good thing" indicates that the definition was never Improvement; simply Change.

By that definition, any kind of reference to anything outside the work would be trivia.

That last bit makes me wonder what the trope actually is, or should be.

I added the trope to the crowner in the trivia thread.

Just to confirm; since we're changing the definition, the description should get a rewrite, yes?

Yes, the description definitely should be broadened.

here's the proposed write-up based on the new definition:

edited 20th Nov '16 4:49:01 PM by crazysamaritan

Sounds pretty good so far.