
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.
For June, we decided to add a splash of color with a snazzy new rainbow lampshade banner in celebration of Pride! We would also like to highlight the new LGBT Representation in Media index, which catalogues various forms of LGBTQ+ representation across media.
Another wiki addition we would like to introduce is the new redesign for Trope-tan, the wiki's unofficial moe anthropomorphic mascot! Trope-tan's old design has been archived at Archive.Trope-tan Classic.
Other notable changes that have happened over the course of last month are major TRS decisions that have completely overhauled well-established tropes like Static Character, Dynamic Character, Baleful Polymorph, The Cameo, The Lost Woods, and Rapunzel Hair. More info regarding those changes can be found in our Changelog section.
Happy troping as always!
Tropes and Works
Obscure Tropes
This section highlights older tropes that need a boost.- It's June, the month of pride, where everything is rainbow. And what goes well with rainbows? Well, the LGBT+ community, obviously, but so do unicorns. Rainbows and Unicorns is a trope about the association between these mythical horses and pretty rainbows, from being rainbow-colored to leaving behind Colorful Contrails. It's only gotten up to 45 wicks since being launched in 2020, but surely there are some examples we're missing?
New Tropes
This section brings attention to recently-launched tropes that could use a little help to really get rolling.- Ah, tea. A longstanding drink going as far back as ancient China, it has served to be the favored drink for the nobility and upper class. Over the years, a popular image that Tea Is Classy has propagated itself throughout many cultures. Whether it's a Yamato Nadeshiko elegantly performing a traditional tea ceremony or a Victorian noble having a tea party in a private garden, it's undeniable that tea being their choice of drink highlights their regality and classiness. Launched on April 22, this trope could use some brewing to bring out its many favors across media.
- Your foe died. Now what? If they've moved on to the afterlife, any grudge you left with someone is likely forgotten, but what if you don't want it to be left unsettled, and pursue them into the afterlife? Then you've become the Afterlife Avenger. There are many reasons while that may be done, whether it's Revenge, The Power of Hate, or a need to truly free the world from their influence if they maintain it. Launched on May 8th, it's safe to say this trope has some unfinished business with getting popular here as well.
- Some say that Vengeance Feels Empty; they are left with no satisfaction after completing their rampage and are left wondering if it was even worth it in the first place. Certain people will disagree and state that Revenge Is Sweet; they feel happy and fulfilled when they finally achieve their vengeful goals. Indeed, they have no regrets about carrying out their retribution on the person or people who have wronged them. Launched on April 24th, this trope could use some publicity to highlight the more cathartic side of revenge.
New Work Page Spotlight
This section covers newer work pages that could use a little help.- One Night Ultimate Werewolf is a Social Deduction Game by Bézier Games. It follows the same premise as the game it's adapting: a group of villagers are trying to find out who among them is a werewolf and lynch them, while the werewolves must lie their way to safety. As its title implies, however, this version takes place over one night, giving the players a single opportunity to do their actions, and only one chance to vote someone out. This format also allows for further shenanigans by letting certain roles switch the cards around, potentially causing the players' objectives to change mid-match. Later expansions added new roles, teams, and gameplay items, and a smartphone app to help organize order of play is also available. Due to the page's recent launch, it could use more tropes, as well as some general cleanup. Shall you take the shot?
- Be Funny Now! is a free-to-play Party Game for PC and smartphones by Jacksfilms. Essentially an online multiplayer version of his YIAY series, players try to answer prompts in the funniest way possible, then each one presents their answer while the rest judge. The game contains plenty of references to Jack's videos, and allows for a large amount of character customization. Why not get up on the stage and give it a go?
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.- Gorgo is a horror film from 1961. Some British treasure hunters, led by Captain Joe Ryan and first officer Slade, are salvaging around Nara Island off the coast of Ireland when the region is rocked by an underwater volcanic eruption. After being forced to dock for repairs, Ryan and Slade meet with the harbour master and learn that two divers in his employ have disappeared. During the night, Ryan manages to capture Gorgo and he's sent to London and put on display in a circus. As it turns out, Gorgo is just a baby, and his fully-grown and enraged mother emerges to get him back from them. This sort of film is nowhere near as original as the poster makes it out to be, but it's still a decent kaiju flick with a more sympathetic outlook.
- The Voyager Golden Record is a record created by NASA in the 70s, launched aboard the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 probes as a way to carry information on Earth should any extraterrestrial civilizations happen to find it. Besides including music, ranging from classical works from Beethoven and Stravinsky to then-current songs by Chuck Berry and Louis Armstrong, it also contains a message by United Nations Secretary General Kurt Waldheim, a collection of sounds and images from Earth, and greetings in many different languages. It has since been made available to the public in 2017 thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign. With World Day of Music approaching this month, why not give it a listen?
- Amazon: Guardians of Eden is an Adventure Game from 1992. Two brothers of the Roberts family, Allen and Jason, are researchers and complete opposites. When the former goes missing during an expedition in Amazon, Jason discovers he has to save him. After reading the secret code from him using a decoder ring, Jason sets off to rescue him from "forces who will stop at nothing to get the information he has". Along the way, he meets a mysterious woman named Maya. The game uses simple point-and-click controls and has a robust Hint System in case you get stuck. It really matches the style of old serials with great cheesy moments of the era, while the nice landscapes hold up to this day.
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!- Yes Theory is a YouTube vlogging channel about a group of friends trying extreme challenges and traveling around the world. They follow the motto of "seek discomfort", believing that some of life's greatest experiences can only be attained by stepping out of one's comfort zone. Some of their most popular videos include creating a fake viral news story
, staying four days at a luxury airport
and throwing a party in the most boring town in America
. For those of you who are open to trying new things, why not give them a page?
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.- Electroplankton is a 2005 video game for the Nintendo DS. Its premise is fairly simple; you can select various types of creatures that act as simple music-making programs, such as the line-following Tracy or the voice-distorting Volvoice. While being a more of a demonstration of the DS' capabilities than a fully fledged game or music program, the game has some surprising recognition, with a re-release for DSiWare in 2009, and even a stage based off the game in the Super Smash Bros. series. Despite this, its page and trope count are rather anemic.
- The Gaokao Tree is an Idle Game made in The Modding Tree by the Chinese developer qq1010903229/loader3229. It's based on the standardized college exam from the creator's home country. You have four subjects (Chinese, Mathematics, English, and Integrated Science) which you have to study to gain ability and credits. Once you feel confident enough, you can take on the gaokao exam and earn points to unlock more things. Receive 750 points on the exam to beat the game. If you have gone through a major exam already, maybe it'll bring back some memories or you can compare it to yours, and it's designed really well.
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.- Nicky Case is a genderqueer and bisexual video game developer, the mind behind some Flash and HTML5 titles such as :the game:, We Become What We Behold and Adventures with Anxiety. Despite the large number of video games they've produced, their page currently sits at only 10 wicks, and would benefit from an example list for some of their other works that have yet to receive pages.
This issue's featured image comes from Treasure of Tarmin, and illustrates Dungeon Crawling.

Here's a classic setup that has stood the test of time: a journey into the lowest depths of a mysterious place, searching for treasure, bypassing perils and fighting monsters. Getting its start from tabletop RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons, it's been the plot to countless video games over the years, from Gauntlet to Skyrim to Zelda and more. The image, a poster for a Dungeons & Dragons spin-off for the Intellivision, features all the elements that you would expect to see in an adventure like this: a hero, ready to strike a giant dragon with his bow while fending off ugly Mooks in a dreary, forgotten set of torchlit passages. The pic has a keen eye for details, and nails the adventurous spirit of these kinds of quests.
Normally, this would be the point where the artist would have been credited, but they've proven impossible to track down. It's sad but true that, back in the early days of gaming, it was usually only the company that got credited. So, if anyone has any idea who made the image, please let us know in the thread below. But regardless of whoever the artist might have been, this is a Level 20 pic, and easily the best encounter we've had at Image Pickin' this month.
Projects and Discussions
- The correct way to classify tropes from fan works on pages has long been a source of debate, as the current rules are somewhat confusing and contradictory. There is now an ongoing Wiki Talk discussion on how to handle fan works on TV Tropes. If you would like to share your thoughts, head on over to the Fan works and media classification
thread!
- Have you ever woken up in the morning, unable to stop thinking about that weird dream you've just had? What was even going on in it? Why did you ride a unicycle to work, and since when did you live on the moon? Dreams, when we remember them, are often so vivid we need an outlet to discuss them. If so, look no further than the Weird Dreams
thread in Yack Fest. Share your most memorable or recent dream stories and chat with other people about theirs. Who knows? Maybe yours won't seem so weird anymore.
- Abandonware is any software that isn't officially sold or supported — i.e. has been abandoned by its owner/manufacturer. It is not an element added with creative intent, making it a piece of trivia, not a trope. The move to Trivia occurred in this TRS thread
.
- Ambiguous Situation is being turned into a supertrope to other "ambiguous" or "unclear" tropes that better fit the current use, with examples being moved to subtropes that fit. A requirement has also been established that the work itself must imply that the situation may or may not have happened, with some degree of In-Universe merit for either. This is due to the trope decaying in meaning to an overly broad concept, resulting in overuse, along with tropeworthiness, over-subjectivity, and Speculative Troping concerns. TRS thread here.
- Artsy Moon has been merged into Weird Moon due to a lack of wicks and questionable tropeworthiness. TRS thread here.
- Baleful Polymorph has been renamed to Forced Transformation and has been expanded to cover all forms of a character being forcibly transformed into something else. This is due to misuse for any involuntary transformation, regardless of the impact on the transformed. TRS thread here.
- Best Known for the Fanservice now excludes porn/hentai/ecchi works that are intended to be racy and is now limited to examples where the fanservice is a minor part of the work. This is due to overuse and attraction of creepy examples. TRS thread here.
- The Cameo is being split, with the current trope becoming a supertrope, and misuse being split into subtropes. This is due to the overly broad definition and unclear description attracting many different kinds of use, with most of it being for character appearances rather than celebrity appearances. TRS thread here.
- Corpsing is being moved to Trivia due to concerning a concept that isn't really a trope, per se, but is more of a Trivia item. TRS thread here.
- Dynamic Character and Static Character have been made Definition-Only Pages and are now indexed under Omnipresent Tropes. This is due to their massive use in fiction making them too common to effectively list as tropes, along with overlap with Character Development. TRS thread here.
- Extraordinarily Empowered Girl has been disambiguated due to an unclear description, resulting in unclear usage, attraction of ZCEs, and a lack of tropeworthiness. TRS thread here.
- Hollywood Dress Code has been merged with Stock Costume Traits due to both pages being used as pseudo-indexes for personal appearance tropes. TRS thread here
.
- I Have the High Ground has been expanded to include structures that are not tall and thin and has been renamed to Dramatic High Perching. This is due to an overly restrictive definition and unclear name leading to heavy misuse. TRS thread here.
- It's X. I Hate X. has been cut due to a relative lack of wicks and it being deemed a non-tropeworthy stock phrase. TRS thread here.
- Kill 'Em All has been renamed ""Everybody Dies" Ending" since its name didn't really suggest "ending where everybody in the cast dies". TRS discussion.
- Leap Day has been moved to UsefulNotes.Leap Day, with some of its tropable ideas being sent to the Trope Idea Salvage Yard. This is due to the page already being written like a Useful Notes page, along with questionable tropeworthiness. TRS thread here.
- Loony Fan has been expanded to cover fans who do not stalk their idols, per se. This is due to misuse for what it has been expanded to. TRS thread here.
- The Lost Woods has been restricted to video game settings, with non-video game examples about magic forests being split off into Enchanted Forest. This is due to it being misused as a video game level trope. TRS discussion here.
- Murphy's Law has been made a Definition-Only Page due to being confusingly written as both a disambiguation and definition-only page at the same time, resulting in usage as if it was a definition-only page. The page was thus made definition-only to match the usage and writing of the page, as well as because the concept was deemed worthy of having. TRS thread here.
- Over and Under the Top has been disambiguated due to a lack of wicks and unclear definition. TRS thread here.
- Pain Center has been cut due to a lack of wicks. TRS thread here.
- Plot Pivot Point has been disambiguated due to a lack of wicks, an unclear definition, and possibly being too broad or subjective as a concept. TRS thread here.
- Prongs of Poseidon has been split
: The original name will still cover tridents used by Poseidon or other sea gods, while Devil's Pitchfork covers infernal pitchforks.
- Qipao has been disambiguated between multiple tropes because a character wearing a qipao isn't a trope. The former contents of the page have been moved to UsefulNotes.Qipao. TRS thread here
.
- Rapunzel Hair has been disambiguated between multiple tropes because it decayed into "characters with long hair", which isn't a trope. TRS thread here
.
- Rock Paper Switch has been merged into Opponent Switch due to overlap between the unhealthier former and healthier latter in definition and examples. TRS thread here.
- Should Have Thought Of That Before X has been cut due to use as a stock phrase and overlap with Didn't Think This Through. TRS thread here.
- Spiritual Successor is being moved to YMMV, with a Trivia page for "examples for works that have the same creator as the original, but not the same characters/continuity" being split off with the name Creator-Driven Successor. This is due to it being a very subjective trope that was in Main, along with some unclear usage. TRS thread here.
- Supernatural Is Purple and Supernatural Is Green have been disambiguated and their definitions merged into a single color-neutral trope, Technicolor Magic, about the association of colors with the supernatural. This is due to overly-broad definitions, unclear names, and the idea of specific colors representing the supernatural being deemed less tropeworthy than a single trope encompassing multiple colors. TRS thread here.
- Undermined by Reality has been disambiguated due to overlapping with other tropes and attracting complaining. TRS thread here.
- Weapon of Choice's current definition is being moved to the new trope Weapon-Based Characterization, with misuse being moved to other tropes. This is due to misuse in the form of "character uses X weapon". TRS thread here.
- Web Games is being rewritten and reorganized due to the page being deemed dated and poorly organized. TRS thread here.
- This month, we celebrate the birthday of Aria Alistar. Their article has a brief biography and a reasonable list of roles, but there's no image, no tropes, and only five wicks and two indexes (aside from PNWM). Who did she play on ER? Who did she play on Scrubs? Is there anything consistent about her characters? Does anyone have a headshot of her that they can upload?
- How about a bit of horror, now that students can start sneaking away to matinees? The Dark and the Wicked is a terrible article right now, with un-alphabetized ZCE entries, practically no indexes or wicks, and bad indentation to boot! All of this is probably caused by the evil unlocked by the recently-deceased father.
- Speaking of fathers, Bumbling Dad is another article that needs cleaning. The page is littered with partial-context examples and bad indentation. There's a good chance that someone let a real life example of the trope edit the page. It isn't terrible, but we should still clean it up and fix the wicks to show an improvement. After all, parents love to see care and attention more than money.
- First-Person Writing, especially the usage of "This Troper", is a discouraged practice when it comes to subjective writing. It's sprinkled on the Fridge, Headscratchers, WMG, and YMMV pages by first-timers, the unaware, and over-eager fans. If you're interested in helping with its removal, come join the First Person Writing Cleanup
thread.
- The TRS thread
for Relationship Writing Fumble was reopened not long ago due to the description rewrite having never been moved (which it has now been), and because wick cleanup was not finished. Since the former has been taken care of, anyone who wants to help clean up the wicks is more than welcome to come on over!
- The Scrappy Mechanic trope is primarily used as a gameplay mechanic in an otherwise fun/enjoyable game that generates a sizable hatedom. Unfortunately, it's also prone to complaining. If you want to get involved, please join the cleanup thread here
.
- Piterpicher is the head honcho of Older/Obscure Work Spotlight and Non-English Work Spotlight. Those are the kinds of works he's interested in, but he's primarily a gamer. (Editor's note: he also made our snazzy new logo!)
- crazysamaritan writes for the Pages Needing Help section, keeping an eye out for stubs and crosswicking.
- FernandoLemon writes for Image of the Month and Work Spotlight. One year ago, he made his first contribution to Trope Report by writing a blurb on Power Bomberman, and in the time since then, he has become a tester for the game.
- War Jay 77 contributed to the Trope Spotlight, Forumwatch, and Project Spotlight sections this month. She is also the Herald of Projects: Long Term/Perpetual, and spends much of her time refreshing on the forums, ATT and TLP for new things to respond to.
- 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 writes for the Obscure Trope Spotlight and Changelog sections.
- plakythebirb is a bird of paradise that usually writes for Works That Need a Page. She also worked on approximately 1% of the logo for this month.
- Excessive-Menace writes for the New Tropes section. They mainly spend their time lurking and editing the wiki, as well as participating in ATT and writing for the Trope Pantheons project. He does not identify as 100% cishet and uses multiple pronouns to refer to herself. (P.S.: They also designed and illustrated Sugar-tan for the Trope-tan revamp!)
- The Mayor of Simpleton wrote for the Changelog, Projects Spotlight, and Forumwatch this edition. He mostly participates in the Project Threads, TRS, ATT, Trope and Wiki Talk, and occasionally Image Pickin'. He enjoyed this past month because he got to celebrate his birthday, which is in May.
- Alnair 20 Aug 93 writes for the Obscure Works and Tropes sections.
- MacronNotes contributed to the Changelog and description for this edition. She spends most of her time on TRS, Long/Short Term projects, and TLP. She is also the herald of the Wiki Talk section on the forums.
- Twiddler makes sure our grammar is in order.
