Previous thread
clocked out. Consensus was that the description is not very good — we weren't sure if they actually needed to be in danger/die, but the current is still very clearly a sick-looking child that could make us empathize.
So since that hasn't changed, another Keep Until Better Image Suggested vote from me
Memetic Loser Mother
Professional Wick Checker
Keep.
To offer a suggestion, this is from New Thunderbolts #9. I can make it shorter and move the green text balloon up if it's too tall.
Keep. Sure it is JAFAAC but it's a face that gets the point across of a kid with cancer
Not even stars last forever.
I think current is understandable enough, but as an alternative, maybe Nelson from South Park?
Here there's at least another character interacting with the kid in question
I just read through the trope page, and the trope is basically this: a child with a terminal illness that improbably survives a huge disaster, only to die later of their terminal illness. I don't think any of these images so far (including the current) do a good job of illustrating the trope.
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
That's true, and the spirit overall seems to be less about the patient themselves and more about the way they're used as a prop for plot and character development or audience sympathy. For a good illustration I still think we need to see other characters reacting to them.
Here's one from Garth Marenghis Darkplace where the Main Character visits the kid in his hospital room, not sure if it's a good option per se but it's the go-to type of scene when people parody this trope:
Edited by MechaAnguirus on Apr 1st 2023 at 7:23:04 AM
I'm not gonna weigh in on any of these because I don't really understand the trope at all. I just read the Playing With page completely and now I'm lost because it seems to flip repeatedly between the trope being "kid has terminal illness" and "kid has improbable immunity/luck for surviving all disasters except terminal illnesses".
I suppose the current is a bit weak, but it isn't awful, so... keep current? "Squid has to go to market. He's had to go to market for as long as he's sucked water."
I agree with that neither images fit the trope. The current shows a sick child, which is one part of the trope. Neither of the suggestions show the other part. 5 seems to illustrate another trope, 7 is a lateral change, and 9 is even worse because it isn't clear enough that the child has a terminal disease.
Pull regardless of replacement. They're all bad.
There's this on the image links page:
That's definitely a quality upgrade of the current, but it doesn't illustrate the trope any better.
If you interpret the trope as "sick child who makes the characters/story emotional", as the previous thread did, then it does.
Because the definition is unclear about the child's death and has been for some time, I'd rather not make a change on those grounds unless it's sorted out.
^ That definition sounds reasonable. There's still the question of how it contrasts itself with Delicate and Sickly. Is it the bald head maybe?
Edited by eroock on Apr 5th 2023 at 10:51:50 AM
I'd say that Delicate and Sickly is about someone with a severe illness, who may serve as a Plot Device but also as one of the actual characters in the work. Littlest Cancer Patient is Plot Device through and through, they only exist to motivate others.
All that being said, though, this is an IP thread not a TRS, so ![[tup]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thumbs_up_emote.png "[thumb up]"){kind=small}
to 13, otherwise keep current, and that's my final answer Alex
he/him | Image Pickin' regular
The Fool
13
I don't think a single suggestion has actually illustrated the trope at all. ![[tdown]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thumbs_down_emote.png "[thumb down]"){kind=small}
to 13.
No longer active.
The description for Littlest Cancer Patient entails that it can cover multiple aspects of how children with cancer are portrayed, and "stock heartstring-tugging character" is among them, so I'm fine with 13. Per the description, "this character's sole reason for existence is to tug your heartstrings so hard they're torn from your chest."
Be kind.
Oh, really? Well, in that case, we may need to start a thread to fix up the description. It's really confusing as of now.
Like I said in post 2, the description is not clear on the finer details and there is a thread somewhere in Trope Talk that arose from the last thread, but folks generally agree a pitiable sick child is a big part of it.
[mod]
But anyway, crowner hooked.
Trans Siberian Anarchestra (it/they)
I don't know how well this works as a page image, but I was inspired to something very silly so I may as well post it
Crown Description:
Littlest Cancer Patient
The image for this page relies almost entirely on familiarity with the work, and is a textbook example of JAFAAC. I suggest we pull it regardless of any possible replacement.