Where do you go to read the latest about new tropes?
What about old tropes with new names?
How can you find the best but least linked tropes out there?
Worry no more: Trope Report is here.
What about old tropes with new names?
How can you find the best but least linked tropes out there?
Worry no more: Trope Report is here.
Trope Report is a monthly newsletter that intends to showcase works and tropes from all corners of this website. It also aims to keep the troper hivemind updated with pertinent trope changes and discussions.
It's October, and Trope Report's ALIIIIVE!
We've prepared a special spooky edition for you Children of the Night — lots of horror-themed works, tropes, pages, and projects to awaken our resident evils. After all, it's Halloween; everyone's entitled to one good scare. Maybe your horror movie marathons this month will yield these pages some wicks or examples, or you'll find your October Obsession through our scary works and creators below! Just don't skip the changelog, of course.
Now, some words of advice from us: Drive slowly to your final destination lest you get vertigo. During Trick or Treat, don't eat too much candy, man. And finally, don't hesitate to play a few games, maybe even on our own forums. After all, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
~Synchronicity, Chief Trope Report Officer
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Tropes and Works
Trope Spotlight
Obscure Tropes
This section highlights older tropes that need a boost.- With quarantine restrictions loosening up, and trick-or-treating and Halloween parties coming up, if you want to wow the crowd with the most extraordinary costumes, hire an Eccentric Fashion Designer in your posse. Their screws may be loose, but don't underestimate their creative talent. You'll be surprised if they make a Halloween costume for you with only the simplest of Noodle Implements. With only 26 wicks and 6 inbounds, they need more wiki love for their effort.
- The Tentative Light is the small, limited light source that's about to go out: a candle, a flickering torch, and so on. It's hard to see very much with it, but that's the only thing available. Once the light is gone, the characters are unable to see at all and are oftentimes in a location filled with hazards and lurking creatures. It's highly likely that Darkness Equals Death. This trope is common in horror, but it only has 40 wicks.
- What could be more spookier than White and Red and Eerie All Over? Adding splotches of red and white, like blood on bones or vampiric pale skin, or Omni-Man himself, can heighten the fear factor.
- If you're tired of orange for Halloween, and want to stick to earth tones, but don't want to stick to brown, try Yellow Earth, Green Earth for that grounded autumnal aesthetic. Yellow and green can pack a punch when it comes to earth powers. Only has 36 wicks and needs more love.
New Tropes
This section brings attention to recently-launched tropes that could use a little help to really get rolling.- Has the recent Zombie Apocalypse gotten you down? Surrounded by legions of the undead, your brains and flesh in danger, just who can save you now? Have no fear, the Zombie Apocalypse Hero is here! Launched on August 12th, these tough-as-nails badasses are ready to fight for their lives and yours, cutting a swath through every zombie in their path so they can not only survive, but thrive. These people will always do their best to protect you from the undead menace — assuming, of course, that they can get to you in time...
- There are few things as nerve-racking yet exciting as exploring the unknown. Whether it's outer space, other worlds, or even just the "haunted" forest in your small town, exploration is a thrilling venture... unless, of course, you stumble on something you weren't meant to find. Suddenly, you're in an Explorer Horror — a bleak, oppressive environment where everything seems hostile when you least expect it. Although launched on June 20th, the sub-genre catalogued here is one of the most haunting of the entire horror genre, forcing you to confront not only the fear of the things trying to hurt you, but your latent fear of the unknown. Tread lightly, my friends, for we never know what's around the corner.
Work Spotlight
New Work Page Spotlight
This section covers newer work pages that could use a little help.- Dear Evan Hansen is the film adaptation of the musical of the same name, released to theaters on September 24, 2021. Due to its several changes from its source material, it was split off into its own work page on that same day. The film's been a hot topic (and occasional meme) on social media, and this discussion may be worth recording (without getting too snarky) on its YMMV page. Information about the film could also be added to the subpages it shares with the musical. Tropes Will Be Found!
- Dogfight is a 2012 off-Broadway musical, adapted from a film with music composed by Pasek And Paul, known for the above-mentioned Dear Evan Hansen. It's the story of a U.S. Marine and a waitress... with the twist being that he's bringing her to the party to win an "ugliest date" contest. Not exactly a traditional romance, but nevertheless tropeworthy. The work page has existed since September 26th and is relatively low on tropes, and could surely be improved.
- Do you like The Loud House and The Casagrandes? Ever wonder if the characters from those shows would like those shows too? Reacting to The Loud House is a fanfiction in which the characters from the Loud House universe watch and react to episodes of their own shows, with all the awkwardness it entails. The page was created on September 14th, so if you know the fanfiction, feel free to update it.
Older/Obscure Work Spotlight
This section is intended to highlight works that may no longer be in the zeitgeist — but that doesn't mean they're any less tropable.- Voodoo Island is an Interactive Fiction game designed by M. J. Sayer, developed by Angelsoft, Inc., and published by Mindscape in 1985. You are shipwrecked on a Caribbean island and explore it. The main villain is Dr. Beauvais, a black magic practitioner who's responsible for all the zombies that inhabit it. You ultimately have to defeat him, free the people, and escape the island alive. As is traditional for the genre, you type in commands with a text parser and only have text as feedback. Luckily, there's no time limit, so don't worry about rushing through things. It may not be designed perfectly, as there are some unclear actions and a very small inventory, but it's worth a shot for the intriguing premise and atmosphere.
- Blood Rage is a 1987 Slasher Movie. In 1974, a young boy named Terry Simmons committed axe murder against a fellow moviegoer who was having sex in a car, then blamed his twin brother Todd for the crime. Todd was kept in an asylum for ten years, while Terry managed to live a normal life and even got a girlfriend named Karen. Unfortunately for Terry, his brother has started remembering what happened a decade ago and escapes on Thanksgiving. This, along with the fact their mother Maddy is planning to marry her boyfriend Brad (who owns the apartment complex where they live) causes him to snap and murder people again. With gruesome deaths, a cool synth soundtrack, and slight cheesiness, the flick's a freaky gem in the rough.
- Nightmares on Wax is a Flash game by Tiny Mania released in 2008. You control a silver ball on shapes that are based on the titular musician's album cover for Thought So and have to reach a hole at the end of each blob. Collect stars to gain points, watch out for bumpers and arrow icons that'll send you back to the previous level, and don't fall off. It appears the game originally featured tracks from the album and stated which one was playing at the moment, but they're not present in the game's files, though you can still look them up on their official channel
. Despite what the title would suggest, this is probably the least spine-tingling title we have on offer this issue, but it's a fun little game that'll require precision to beat.
Works That Need a Page
This section takes a page from the List of Shows That Need Summary. It is intended to spotlight works that people have been talking about enough to link around the site, but don't have a page yet. If the work page link turns blue after this, then we know we've done our job!- Groy Anderson is a music and video producer mostly known for various songs using UTAU voicebanks. The resulting songs often varied between "pretty weird" and "gory horror", all with an undercurrent of bizarre humor. More recently, Groy has created multiple video series, one of which has even been given English subtitles! Though relatively obscure in the grand scheme of things, the lack of a page for this artist still stands out.
Non-English Work Spotlight
The wiki may be in English, but that doesn't mean non-English media are any less important! This section focuses on works that may have a language barrier to deal with — but are worth it if you do.- Cookie Clicker is an Idle Game by French developer Julien "Orteil" Thiennot. You initially click a cookie to bake cookies and spend them on cursors that produce them every second automatically, then grandmas, then other buildings that escalate in ridiculousness and upgrades that provide all kinds of buffs. There's a feeling of satisfaction as you grow richer in cookies, or perhaps regret, as things become more freaky and twisted (though you can turn off scary stuff in the options), but you may want to keep it that way for greater production. It received a Steam release last month, with cloud saves and Steam achievements, so it's the perfect time to take part in the cookie economy or re-experience a classic.
- Struwwelpeter is a German book filled with cautionary tales for children. The most well-known is "The Story of Little Suck-a-Thumb", in which a boy sucks his thumb and the great tall tailor comes out to cut it off, but there are also others, like one about Kaspar, who turns thin by refusing to eat his soup for five days and dies, or Johnny, who doesn't pay attention to where he's walking, so he bumps into a dog and falls into a river. It brilliantly shows how seemingly innocuous childhood behaviors can lead to situations that range from uncomfortable to life-threatening, and even contains an anti-racism message that rings true to this day, even if some may see "The Story of the Inky Boys" as insensitive.
- Clock Tower (1995) is a Japanese Survival Horror game by Human Entertainment. A teenage girl named Jennifer Simpson is adopted along with her friends by Mary Barrows and is set to live in a huge mansion. Unfortunately, when their new caretaker leaves to get Mr. Barrows, she doesn't come back for a while. Jennifer volunteers to look for her, but after a scream, she finds the foyer abandoned and is hunted by Bobby Barrows, the Scissorman. During gameplay, you move from room to room, occasionally using items and defending yourself from threats, including the aforementioned Scissorman. As you do so, Jennifer's portrait will change color to indicate her state. It's a progenitor to many games of the genre, with incredible graphics and sound, Multiple Endings, and a masterful way to induce horror by making her largely helpless on her own and through the surprise appearances of the stalker.
Creator Page Spotlight
Works would be nothing without the people who make them. This section highlights authors, artists, actors, musicians, and everyone else responsible for trope creation and proliferation.- What do "Mimsy Were the Borogoves", Psycho, and Conan the Barbarian have in common? All their original writers were part of the "Lovecraft Circle", a group of H. P. Lovecraft's friends and correspondents who contributed elements to the now-well-known Cthulhu Mythos. This group was made up of August Derleth, Clark Ashton Smith, Henry Kuttner, Frank Belknap Long, Robert Bloch, and Robert E. Howard, all masterful and prolific science fiction and fantasy writers in their own right. Individual writeups for all of them would take up too much room, so check out their pages to get a taste of what else they may have written!
- If horror films had their own A-list, Tony Todd would be on it. His page describes him as one of the seminal Scary Black Men of Hollywood for good reason: only a few other actors can match his horror resume (Ben in Night Of The Living Dead, the titular villain of the Candyman franchise, Bludworth in multiple Final Destination movies, Tales from the Hood 3, Scream: Resurrection, and several more). He's also no stranger to the rest of genre fiction, dabbling in Star Trek and the DC Animated Movie Universe. Check out his filmography and more at his page!
Image of the Month
This section brings you the best of the recent selections from Image Pickin.
This issue's featured image comes from World's Finest Comics, and illustrates For Want Of A Nail.
Comic book covers seem to be a favorite among the folks at the Image Suggestion Thread. But can you blame them? They're funny, they're visually appealing, and they gave rise to the Superdickery trope. So what makes this one in particular deserve the Image of the Month award?
The fact that the page had already gone through three threads beforehand, that's what. Although many users agreed that the previous image◊ (an illustration of the trope-naming nursery rhyme) wasn't excellent, it also wasn't bad enough to pull without a solid replacement suggestion. And this cover proved to be just that, painting a clear contrast between the catalyst of the event and the undesirable result. Another victory for the red caped hero!
This issue's featured image comes from World's Finest Comics, and illustrates For Want Of A Nail.
For want of a peace activist, the future was lost.
Comic book covers seem to be a favorite among the folks at the Image Suggestion Thread
. But can you blame them? They're funny, they're visually appealing, and they gave rise to the Superdickery trope. So what makes this one in particular deserve the Image of the Month award?The fact that the page had already gone through three threads beforehand, that's what. Although many users agreed that the previous image
◊ (an illustration of the trope-naming nursery rhyme) wasn't excellent, it also wasn't bad enough to pull without a solid replacement suggestion. And this cover proved to be just that, painting a clear contrast between the catalyst of the event and the undesirable result. Another victory for the red caped hero!Projects and Discussions
Forumwatch
Hey guys! Welcome back to Forumwatch! In this section, we'll be telling you about what's going on in the forums — interesting discussions that may be going on in Wiki Talk, some fun forum games, or lively debates going on in On-Topic Conversations, you name it!
- On TV Tropes, some of us may enjoy a good scare, but sometimes, what can horrify even us is seeing... redundant tropes that serve to be duplicates of others! Ah, the horror! How could we do such as a thing as duplication, the most terrifying of all Troper sins? Luckily, a band of Tropers and exorcists have created the Duplicate tropes cleanup thread to fix the problem. If you have any concerns over a trope that you feel is redundant, drop it there and help with discussion.
- Sometimes, you have an idea for a story that you want to share with the class. But the class laughs at you because (let's face it) children in school are jerks. So now you need to go the next best place. Since it's Halloween month, we would recommend that you go to the nearest cemetery to share your ideas with dead people, but why not do the next best thing and share your ideas with us in the Free Idea Dumping Ground? We would love to to hear your ideas!
- When most people think of horrors, they either think of Earthly things such as serial killers or supernatural stuff like ghosts and zombies. If sci-fi is involved at all, then thoughts go to alien abductions or killer robots. But in space, no one can hear you scream, so what do you do? Why, you shoot your way out, of course! The popular sci-fi series Metroid has its own dedicated thread, filled with people gearing up for Bounty Hunter Samus Aran's fight with killer robots! Horror comes in all shapes and sizes, and only a badass like Samus can stop these monsters.
- Black cats are a symbol of bad luck, and thus they have become one of the many terrors of Halloween. But let's face it, cats are cute. Like really cute. Even black cats are utterly adorable. So what if one crosses your path? It will only give you bad luck if you harass it into scratching you. Do you want to talk about cats? Visit the Crazy cat people thread and prove that not all cat owners are witches! Unless you are a witch, in which case flaunt your witchy powers.
Trope/Article Changelog
This section covers renames, removals, redefinitions, hard-splits, merges, and wick cleaning. We'll try to keep you alerted to any major changes to the site, including perpetual projects and Wiki Talk decisions that you may have missed, but if you want to be a part of the process that affects so much of our wiki, then head over to the Trope Repair Shop on the left-hand side of the forum.
- Enthralling Siren is being renamed to Our Sirens Are Different, with a new trope about the "siren's song" concept being created. TRS thread here.
- Essential Anime and Music Of Note have been moved to the Sugar Wiki. TRS thread here.
- Everyone Is Gay has been merged into Cast Full of Gay. TRS thread here.
- Fingerless Gloves is being disambiguated between sub-types of itself that will soon be created. Decision here.
- After a long period of debate, Hate Sink has been turned into a supertrope, with examples moved to subtropes where possible. Original TRS thread here, Trope Talk discussion here, final TRS thread here.
- Mythical Motifs has been broadened to include non-animal motifs. TRS thread here.
- No Phones Tonight has been cut and yarded. TRS thread here.
- Stock Superpowers has been renamed to Stock Superpowers Index to better illustrate that it is an index and not a trope. TRS thread here.
- Stuffed into the Fridge is being turned into a Fan Speak page. It is also being disambiguated into related tropes, such as Disposable Woman, I Let Gwen Stacy Die, The Lost Lenore, and Cynicism Catalyst. TRS thread here.
- Unwinnable by Insanity and Unwinnable by Mistake have been merged into Unintentionally Unwinnable. TRS thread here.
- Wake Up, Go to School & Save the World is being redefined as being about "student heroes with mundane lives", with the misuse that has resulted being moved to other tropes like Socially Awkward Hero. TRS thread here.
- Several Wiki Tropes are being moved to Administrivia, merged into other tropes or the TV Tropes Glossary, or otherwise being cut or removed from the index. Full details and TRS thread here.
- Works By Stephen King has been cut. TRS thread here.
Pages Needing Help
This section highlights articles indexed on the Pages Needing Wiki Magic policy page and sub-pages. Such articles are, at best, under-performing and below wiki standards. At worst, these pages are in violation of the wiki's rules against stubs. If you're an editor, try checking out some of these under-performing trope and work articles to see what improvements you can make to the page.
- October's birthday is Todd Solondz, known for writing dark satire. Instead of a list of works, the page has two sentences to summarize his films. The description is acceptable, but the example list is chock-full of ZCE and Word Cruft.
- Fat, French and Fabulous is a two-woman podcast that handles interesting and spooky topics such as Typhoid Mary, the Hinterkaifeck Murders... and the Great Maple Syrup Heist. Its page, however, is interesting in decidedly less fun ways. The description is barely one at all, the page has multiple Zero-Context Examples, and something truly horrifying: YMMV examples on the main page! Would any courageous tropers be willing to fix this?
- This month we wish all some Holiday-Appropriate Weather for the season. However, we recommend seeking some appropriately-themed weather from television specials and movies in order to fill out the article a bit more. There's only twelve examples on the page and eight wicks.
Project Spotlight
Looking for a project to dedicate some time to, but not comfortable jumping into large threads? Here are some smaller projects, or more recent discussions, in need of a few more hands.
- Moral Event Horizon is a trope that recently went through the TRS process and got redefined. Cleanup is still needed, and a lot of entries might need further discussion. If you'd like to help, check out the Cleanup Thread.
- Foil is an oft-misunderstood literary concept here on the wiki, leading to tons of misuse and natter. A cleanup thread exists to help combat this decay.
- Here at TV Tropes, we like to keep things clean and respectful. Sadly, not all tropers can talk about certain tropes without dipping into overly-detailed and sexual descriptions. If you'd like to help with the cleanup, visit the P5 Cleanup Pile and lewdness issues thread.
- Many people on the internet hate when media reference modern and trendy things, but TV Tropes is no place to express it. However, Were Still Relevant Dammit is often misused to complain about these references, and if you have an idea of what we should do with the trope, speak your mind at the We're Still Relevant, Dammit! discussion.
- In some stories, a Fan-Preferred Couple is more popular as opposed to an Official Couple. Unfortunately, this Audience Reaction is frequently used for unpopular entries or an official couple. A group of tropers have created a cleanup thread to remove any invalid examples of the Fan-Preferred Couple audience reaction.
Know the Contributors
- Synchronicity is the spooky, spooky skeleton who writes Creator Page Spotlight and oversees this whole shebang.
- Piterpicher is the head honcho of Older/Obscure Work Spotlight and Non-English Work Spotlight. When it comes to wiki philosophy, the priorities are making it fun for readers, encompassing, and well-performing in terms of SEO. Can you blame him? He's just a number-crunching, bloodthirsty Killer Robot. (Altered editor's note: he also made our spooky logonote .)
- crazysamaritan writes for the Pages Needing Help section, keeping an eye out for stubs and crosswicking.
- FernandoLemon writes for the Image of the Month. He joined this wiki in order to busy himself with work, as it proves to be an effective distraction against the voices. Long-term exposure to the voices leads to violent outbursts, hallucinations and paranoia. There is no escape. There is no escape. There is no escape. There is no escape. There is no escape.
- Satoshi Bakura writes for Forumwatch. They're a malevolent cat demon who is supposed to be summoned by those who want revenge against enemies...at the cost of their soul. Unfortunately, they're sometimes instead summoned for mundane tasks like carrying people's groceries.
- Mighty Mewtron writes for the New Work Page spotlight. She's a scruffy black cat who makes random noises just to scare people exploring spooky dark places, then hisses at them before ominously vanishing. Beyond the Trope Report, she's most active in the forums, TLP, the pages for whatever work she's obsessed with this month, and sharpening her claws.
- War Jay 77 is a murder of 77 crows that fly around North America in an effort to look creepy. When they're not scaring people in grave-yards, they write for the Project Spotlight section.
- gjjones writes for the Project Spotlight section. He also frequently spends his time working on projects whenever they are necessary, cleaning up wiki entries and participating in the ATT and Trope Repair Shop threads.
- 𝕋𝕒𝕓𝕤 WOOOoooOOOOOooooOOOOoooh
- STARCRUSHER99 writes for the New Tropes spotlight, taking advantage of his time lurking in the TLP. When he's not devouring the stars in the sky to bring about an eternal night, he particularly enjoys posting on the Complete Monster thread, taking plenty of notes from his fellow villains.
- Twiddler is a disembodied mass of Creepy Long Fingers hovering over a keyboard, making sure our grammar is in order.
- The Mayor of Simpleton's ghost writes for the Changelog. He mostly participates in Projects and TRS, and occasionally Image Pickin'. He has also been dead for 150 years.
- plakythebirb is the raven that doesn't say "Nevermore" but rather "Hey, look at this weird video I found!" She usually writes for the Works Needing Pages section, making sure that any Tome of Eldritch Lore and Brown Note has a page.
- Delibirda is death itself, and also a guest editor tuning in whenever she feels like. When she is not taking the souls of the dead, she is either reading comics, watching Xilam shows, reading wikis or playing video games.
- alnair20aug93 is a lazy Halloween orange cat and a guest editor for the Obscure Tropes section. He likes to draw stuff and likes to post and view weird images on the internet.
This edition of Trope Report is brought to you by Hotel Transylvania, where Monsters of all sorts can have a scream and get away from those bothersome humans. Enter promo code HALLOWEEN to get 66.6% off your stay!
Interested in becoming a contributor, or have suggestions for works or tropes to feature? Pop by the the thread and let us know! We don't bite. (Much.)
and let us know! We don't bite. (Much.)