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EvilerThanThou Since: Feb, 2019
Jun 26th 2021 at 9:31:25 AM •••

I was thinking of proposing a new addition called "Played for Kids" on the Launch Pad. It's where a trope with inherently adult-themes to them is retooled to be family friendly.

I'm only asking now because Bowdlerise, Does This Remind You of Anything? and Getting Crap Past the Radar already exist and I began to realize that giving "Played For Kids" its own page would be redundant when all I wanted was to extend the Played With pages.

Is it possible to just add "Played For Kids" to the page, but have the blue-link lead to one of those tropes instead?

Unnerving_Posterior Since: Feb, 2019
Mar 1st 2019 at 3:12:32 PM •••

What's the usual order of examples in Playing With pages?

70.190.123.204 Since: Dec, 1969
May 8th 2010 at 11:39:02 AM •••

What does "played with" mean on its own, as in "played with in <insert work here>"? I also find "lampshading" a form of playing straight.

Edited by 70.190.123.204 Hide / Show Replies
RobinZimm Since: Jan, 2001
May 9th 2010 at 1:10:19 AM •••

"Played with" is usually ZigZagged; Lampshading accompanies straight use.

Edited by RobinZimm
AddythePawnSlayer Since: Jan, 2001
May 9th 2010 at 9:06:45 AM •••

Lampshading can occur with other means of playing with a trope, such as subversions or inversions, but if it's just said on its own then it can be assumed it's played straight.

Would you kill your best friend, can you save yourself?
TBeholder Since: Jan, 2001
May 10th 2010 at 11:07:54 PM •••

Zig-Zagged usually involves several iterations of inversion and subversion.
When there are other uses (lampshaded-invoked-discussed), it's not that simple, so the choice is whether to lump it into "played with" or to give a list of (usually unnecessary) details.

Edited by TBeholder ...And even I make no pretense Of having more than common sense - R.W.Wood
DrStarky Since: Jun, 2010
Dec 26th 2010 at 10:23:48 PM •••

I think played usally means they're not sure what to file it under.

Put me in motion, drink the potion, use the lotion, drain the ocean, cause commotion, fake devotion, entertain a notion, be Nova Scotian
VVK Since: Jun, 2009
Jun 21st 2012 at 6:15:45 AM •••

It's not like it can mean anything else, if you look at this page.

JIKTV Since: Aug, 2011
Jun 21st 2013 at 7:15:00 PM •••

In Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach, there's a scene where the Threatening Shark is swimming toward the beach and everyone on the beach is running away...until the shark swims right up to Crazy Awesome Memetic Badass Tackleberry's gun. Tackleberry says, "You leave the swimming area NOW, Mister!" The shark then swam away. On the page, I used the word tried to describe how the shark was used, but that just doesn't seem sufficient. Is there a better word for this?

Similarly, on the page for Paul Heyman, for Would Hit a Girl, I wrote that he tried, but Madusa kicked his ass several times in 1992. I looked at the PlayingWith/WouldHitAGirl page, and I couldn't find a variation where you had a Big Bad Non-Action Guy facing a Face Action Girl, and like the shark example above, I could only come up with tried.

Thank you very much.

Check out my site. The George The Animal Steele Fan Page! http://www.angelfire.com/fl3/jasonsite/gsteele.html
TippyToe_Zombie Since: Feb, 2016
Aug 2nd 2018 at 3:34:16 PM •••

We need to add weaponized to playing with. I've seen plenty of examples of tropes being weaponized mentioned on various pages.

AmourMitts Since: Jan, 2016
Jan 28th 2017 at 12:19:51 PM •••

I would suggest altering the image to include the following visual references:

IsaacsLaughing Since: Feb, 2015
Mar 11th 2015 at 7:32:18 AM •••

Suggested new categories for this page:

1. Callback - A trope that was soundly laid to rest is brought back into play.

2. Baton pass - The primary actor of a trope changes. Distinct from being a separate instance in that the primary actor changes and the target does not.

The example I noticed these methods in is the case of Nishio Nishiki from Tokyo Ghoul and sequel, :RE. In the first series, he initiates a Smug Snake trope by drastically overstating his ability while fighting Kaneki, who delivers a Curb-Stomp Battle, which sets in motion Nishiki's development as both a stronger and less conceited character. His kagune is also distinctly snakelike, which can hardly be called a coincidence in TG's dripping-with-symbolism context.

In the sequel, Nishiki has become a solid badass and also a more sensible, even affectionate character. Meanwhile, the CCG picks up the Smug Snake trope by drastically raising Nishiki's threat level and naming him Orochi/Serpent.

It's possible this entanglement of playing with a trope could simply be called zigzagged. I make this suggestion because these I consider these two plays distinct enough that many other clear examples could be found, making them deserving of their own definitions here.

Edited by IsaacsLaughing Hide / Show Replies
SeptimusHeap MOD (Edited uphill both ways)
Mar 11th 2015 at 7:50:47 AM •••

The first looks like a Double Subversion to me. Not sure what the second is.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
IsaacsLaughing Since: Feb, 2015
Mar 11th 2015 at 9:45:27 AM •••

The first is not a subversion because the trope DOES happen, but is eventually removed from play and even later is brought back. To note, this play would be not just be a second instance of a trope, either, but would relate to the first instance. It would be an actual callback not just a reuse.

Edited first post with naming suggestions in order to clarify meaning.

Edited by IsaacsLaughing
IsaacsLaughing Since: Feb, 2015
Mar 15th 2015 at 4:04:07 PM •••

Sorry, took a while for what you meant about Double Subversion to sink in. Still isn't what I'm referring to, though. In a Double Subversion, it would first be implied that trope is going to happen, then implied that it won't before it finally does occur. That isn't the same as what I described.

Alvin Since: Feb, 2012
Mar 20th 2016 at 12:18:19 AM •••

I hope this is not adding to confusion, but is this an example of your 'Callback"? In sword-fighting movies of the 1940's, a man fighting a woman would cut her clothes off (at least in one movie). This is parodied and gender-inverted, but mostly not done until a Zorro movie with Antonio Banderas plays it straight again. I suggest the name 'Throwback', but I don't know if it belongs here or not.. As for the 'Baton pass", I don't know your example, but I think I got it. Is this an example? On the show Get Smart, Maxwell Smart is a klutz, and his partner, Agent 99, is not. On one episode where Smart does not appear, Agent 99 finds herself having 'caught' Smart's clumsiness, and does the slapstick Smart had done.

Edited by Alvin
Alvin Since: Feb, 2012
Mar 20th 2016 at 12:34:03 AM •••

Oh, and you might want to take a look at Undead Horse Trope and see if that's what you wanted.

Edited by Alvin
MyTimingIsOff Since: Dec, 2011
Feb 14th 2015 at 1:14:12 AM •••

Luc, I don't care how important you think examples are, that's no excuse for shoehorning. Shoehorned examples confuse people and encourage shoehorning elsewhere. This page is supposed to be a guide, so it's even more important not to shoehorn here than on regular pages. So stop restoring the bad examples.

Not only that, but you haven't given a single reason for why you keep restoring the outdated/wrong definitions for the forms of playing. Gender-Inverted Trope is the correct article, so why do you keep changing it to pothole to Gender Flip, a completely different article which outright says not to confuse it with Gender-Inverted Trope? Why do you insist on bringing up the defunct "plotted a good waste" name (which we abandoned for a reason)?

Edited by MyTimingIsOff Hide / Show Replies
SeptimusHeap MOD (Edited uphill both ways)
Feb 14th 2015 at 2:02:13 AM •••

Also, edit warring it back in is not OK.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Luc Since: Jan, 2001
Feb 16th 2015 at 12:28:23 AM •••

1. Providing examples are part of definition. If you don't have examples, you don't have a complete definition, in my experience. That being said, the current version provides enough of an example that, other then perhaps putting it in the format of the rest of the page (and I can see why you didn't do that—to prevent further shoehorning), I have no objections to it.

2. As to "plotted a good waste", IIRC there are a few out of the way pages that refer to that phrase, although that may have changed since last I checked.

FairyDreamer Pink Butterfly Since: Sep, 2010
Pink Butterfly
Jul 9th 2014 at 11:36:20 PM •••

What the hell happened? Suddenly, it seems like no trope has a "played with" section anymore?

I can either be a devilish angel or an angelic devil. You decide. Hide / Show Replies
SeptimusHeap MOD (Edited uphill both ways)
Jul 10th 2014 at 12:51:44 AM •••

What happened is that the namespace icons were changed. We are waiting for their reinstallation.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
RobinZimm Since: Jan, 2001
Jan 15th 2014 at 4:51:39 PM •••

Unparodied ... isn't a TV Tropes page. I don't think we should include it unless there is sufficient support among the community for its existence to justify the page, first.

RobinZimm Since: Jan, 2001
Jun 19th 2013 at 1:12:19 PM •••

I want the Gender-Inverted Trope entry to parallel the others, and with The Butler Did It there's the obvious possibility of The Housekeeper Did It (or some such), but Power Glows is straight-up genderless.

Any thoughts?

TompaDompa Since: Jan, 2012
Aug 4th 2012 at 7:01:23 AM •••

I'm sorry, what is the "implied" part of the image supposed to be?

Ceterum censeo Morbillivirum esse eradicandum. Hide / Show Replies
RobinZimm Since: Jan, 2001
Schwarzen Since: Dec, 1969
Dec 22nd 2011 at 11:05:47 PM •••

So if a trope applied to a character but let's say they get over it as the story progresses. What would that be considered as?

Edited by Schwarzen Hide / Show Replies
TompaDompa Since: Jan, 2012
Aug 4th 2012 at 6:59:52 AM •••

"Trope: Played straight with Character at first, but then they get over it as the story progresses."

At least, that's how I'd write it.

Ceterum censeo Morbillivirum esse eradicandum.
VVK Since: Jun, 2009
Sep 21st 2012 at 2:12:39 AM •••

I put one example by that description as "eventually defied", but that doesn't automatically apply, it depends.

MaDeR Since: Jan, 2010
Feb 2nd 2011 at 1:55:03 PM •••

I loved these two examples. Makes trope using very understandable. Shame that is only two examples. :)

Hide / Show Replies
Woolierthanthou Since: Mar, 2012
artman40 Since: Jan, 2001
Nov 22nd 2010 at 3:08:29 PM •••

Is there a thing called Analyzed Trope if the trope is looked closer, but not deconstructed or Played for Drama?

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MarqFJA The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer (Before Recorded History)
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
Jun 9th 2010 at 1:53:00 PM •••

Okay, so assume a series where it's not uncommon for using a Super Mode or One-Winged Angel to be accompanied by Power Makes Your Hair Grow. Then a new character comes up, and when they undergo the transformation, s/he appears to avert Power Makes Your Hair Grow... only to later surprise his/her opponent(s) when his/her hair suddenly grows to Rapunzel Hair proportions and ensnares them when they least expected, and s/he explains that Power Makes Your Hair Grow normally does occur for him/her; it's just that s/he has the ability to turn that aspect on and off at will (or s/he can control the actual length of his/her hair), allowing him/her to surprise enemies like s/he did just now.

Now, where does that fall into Playing with a Trope's categories?

Edited by MarqFJA Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus. Hide / Show Replies
173.3.92.231 Since: Dec, 1969
Kastorr Since: May, 2010
Dec 15th 2011 at 10:10:19 AM •••

That's definitely zig-zagged.

I don't even know.
RedLunchBox Since: Jul, 2010
Jun 12th 2011 at 12:41:40 PM •••

One thing I'm not suprised is done yet: Tropeception: A trope within a trope. (Ex. Brawl's Great Maze being The Very Definitely Final Dungeon within another The Very Definitely Final Dungeon, Subspace)

Edited by RedLunchBox Hide / Show Replies
SonicLover Since: Sep, 2009
Sep 6th 2011 at 1:50:02 PM •••

That's not even what the word "inception" means.

That's me.
TippyToeZombie Since: Mar, 2011
Aug 8th 2011 at 11:33:58 AM •••

I kind of think that maybe we could put Weaponized as another way to play with a trope such as when Candace Weaponized Failure Is the Only Option in Phineas And Ferb The Movie Across The Second Dimension

I am the Tippy Toe Zombie I like to Limbo Often I fall on people's heads

Edited by TippyToeZombie I am the Tippy Toe Zombie I like to Limbo Often I fall on people's heads
lacusness 42 Since: Jun, 2010
42
Apr 30th 2011 at 4:11:52 PM •••

Shouldn't the main page list all of the tropes that have Playing With page?

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Otakukun Fun and Perky Since: Aug, 2010
Fun and Perky
SonicLover Since: Sep, 2009
2xN 2xN Since: Oct, 2010
2xN
Mar 15th 2011 at 10:16:10 PM •••

Should we turn this into an index? You know, so individual entries for the ways to play with a trope have an index on the bottom saying "Playing with a Trope". Are there technical ramifications to this?

SonicLover Since: Sep, 2009
Mar 1st 2011 at 12:15:14 PM •••

We really don't need to pothole every single occurrence of the word "trope" to the page in question, do we?

That's me.
VmKid Nerdy. Weird. AWESOME. Since: Sep, 2009
Nerdy. Weird. AWESOME.
Nov 30th 2010 at 6:35:37 PM •••

Is there a word for a trope that is done literally, like an Interface Screw that is caused by actual screws obscuring the screen?

Hyperforce Go! http://vmkid.me/ Hide / Show Replies
RobinZimm Since: Jan, 2001
Dec 1st 2010 at 4:46:18 AM •••

That might be a Visual Pun, if intentional - but unless "Interface Screw" was the standard term when You Dont Know Jack came out, I vote Hilarious in Hindsight.

Poochy.EXE Since: Jan, 2001
Sep 20th 2010 at 10:07:17 PM •••

So the list of editing tips includes one that says a trope can't be "partially subverted", which makes sense. But I see that phrase used to refer to instances where a trope is neither played straight nor completely inverted, but rather takes a middle road. What do I change them to?

For example, for a character trope that is Always Female, having a group of them that are all male would be an inversion or subversion (depending on whether or not it plays up the fact that you'd expect them to be female), having the group be all female would be a straight example, but what do you call it when the group has a roughly 50/50 gender split?

Edited by Poochy.EXE Extra 1: Poochy Ain't Stupid Hide / Show Replies
RobinZimm Since: Jan, 2001
Sep 21st 2010 at 4:38:40 AM •••

Can you give a more specific example?

Poochy.EXE Since: Jan, 2001
Oct 4th 2010 at 1:19:52 AM •••

Erm, perhaps trying to do this by example is only gonna cause more confusion.

Lemme put it this way: You have a group of a character type, but half of them are played straight and the other half are inversions or subversions. What do you call that?

Edited by Poochy.EXE Extra 1: Poochy Ain't Stupid
Luc Since: Jan, 2001
Oct 4th 2010 at 1:42:18 AM •••

I'd say what you've just describes is either a bunch of individual cases, or a case of Zig-Zagging Trope, depending on the trope and how you look at the implementation.

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