Tropers / That 897 Guy

Hey guys, That 897 Guy here. Also known as Bones897 and InvaderZim897. I'm a calm (to the point of being lazy), somewhat emotional individual who tries to be nice to people, but I also have a firm belief that only being nice is boring. I put the most importance on my relationships with my family and friends, but I am also passionate about animation. I love watching it, making it, learning about it, and really anything to do with it. Generally however I'm not into anime, and while I enjoy many things produced in CG animation, I don't think it compares to the beauty of 2D drawings and how they can be used to communicate emotion and create illusions of movement and life.

I am the definition of "someone with too much free time." While I have a job and go to school, I spend little time at either and I don't use my free time productively as much as I should. But if I do something at the right time, which seems to be late at night, I can be pretty darn productive. I could be described as "nocturnal" because my sleep schedule seems to naturally drift in that direction. I can go from normal to nocturnal in 24 hours, but it takes days to go back. And even if I try to maintain the normal schedule, it slowly reverts anyway.

TV Tropes became my favorite wiki and possibly overall website pretty quickly. I love fiction and storytelling conventions. I attempt to create my own stories that one day I could make into cartoons. In my childhood I drew many different characters such as Swampy the Frog, Unlucky Duck, Lightning Man, Bob and Tom (no relation to the radio show), Chester, Waldo, and Susan. The latter three are the main ones I still work with. Here is my Charahub, under construction.

Shows/Books/Movies/Games/Miscellaneous Things I Like

These Works are Made Of Win Because of the Rule of Cool, For the Evulz.

Shows

• Adult Swim
  • Aqua Teen Hunger Force: It has limitless possiblity for plots and jokes. And it proves to be amusing plenty of the time, though it's definitely not for everyone.
  • Metalocalypse: A funny and very stylish BRUUUUTAL show that is epic and seems like it'll go somewhere.
• American Dad: It's a lot like Family Guy, but so different from it too. I like its more plot/character-driven episodes in contrast to Family Guy, while still having the same kind of humor. The fact that it has a canon makes it Futurama-like, but that show has a different sense of humor.
• Beavis And Butthead: The Idiot Plots are great.
• Cartoon Network
  • Adventure Time With Finn And Jake: A very fun, interesting show that turns concepts seemingly bland or cut-and-paste (A Boy And His Dog Save the Princess, anyone?) and makes them funny, cool, and mathematical. As it goes on it gets more emotionally gripping and deep, which I never saw coming.
  • Regular Show: Reminiscent of Beavis And Butthead, except Mordecai and Rigby are intelligent enough that you can relate to them as well. In fact, my best friend and I are them.
• Futurama: This show is flawless. It originated some of the most quotable lines in TV history; reflected quite well by the impressive number of Tropes on This Very Wiki it has named. Go look at its "Moments" pages for several examples of why this show kicks your favorite show's ass. Which it doesn't have! Gwah-hah-heh-heh-heh!! ^note Unless your favorite show is also Futurama, in which case perfectly symmetrical violence never solved anything.
• My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic: A very clever, entertaining show with tons of lovable characters. And all the memes just make it better.
• Nicktoons
  • Avatar The Last Airbender: When this show first came out, I judged it for being anime-inspired in its artistic style. I've always kind of felt that the anime style is overrated and tired; I no longer think this about all anime, but quite a bit. Anyway, my buddy The Bren MAN once showed me all the episodes of this in order, and it turns out that I really like it. I regret missing the original run, but at the same time I'm glad I became a fan in time for the sequel series.
  • Invader Zim: A Nicktoon cancelled just when it was going to get good. It was good anyway, but I've mostly grown tired of the entire first season.
  • Legend Of Korra: A brilliant continuation of the above Avatar The Last Airbender, mainly due to its ability to expand the universe and the mythology without having to shoehorn the original characters into new conflicts.
  • My Life As A Teenage Robot: The animation of this show is very attractive and stylish; and the different styles used, the widely varying color schemes, character designs, and transformations of the characters are impressively done. It's also pretty funny.
  • The Ren And Stimpy Show: I'm really glad this was one of the first shows to air on Nickelodeon, as its influence can be well-observed in many later shows. It was really funny, clever, and edgy.
  • Rugrats: This show is really funny, interesting, well-written, and charming; I personally think it deserved its rather long run (by Nickelodeon standards especially; where shows have George Jetson Job Security).
  • SpongeBob Squarepants: The first three seasons are extremely funny and memorable. It's influenced my personality and sense of humor probably more than any other TV show, and that will always remain with me. It's just a shame that this show is among the most powerful cases of Seasonal Rot out there.
• South Park: A show that varies wildly in many aspects, but generally entertaining, funny, and insightful. However it suffers the same problems as any work of satire, mainly Poe's Law and Fan Dumb.

Books

• Bone: I composed a lengthy symphony of gushing on this in "Gushing About Shows You Like" a while back. Go check that out if you wanna see (mine will probably be the only one on Bone, or the longest).

Movies

• Disney Animated Canon: Friggin' LOVE Disney, and Walt Disney himself is something of a role model to me (even though I'm nothing like him, really, and it's not likely I ever will be, but I think anyone who wants to entertain should look up to him some).
  • Aladdin: Great songs, appealing characters, and funny.
  • Beauty And The Beast: Pretty much right in the center of Disney's renaissance; and it shows. It's got great songs, great animation, and something about Gaston is really funny, too (probably why Youtube Poop that features him tends to be good).
  • Frozen: A film I didn't expect a lot from, but the fact that it featured An Ice Person as one of the main characters ad in general involved a lot of ice caught my interest. I was blown away by the quality of the characters and songs in this movie, earning it a position in my Disney-list surpassed only by...
  • The Lion King: Likely the first movie I ever sat through, I like to think the sheer beauty of this film is what got me started wanting to animate. As I got older I was able to appreciate the songs, characters, and story and it continues to hold up after twenty years.
  • The Princess And The Frog: I think this one is right up there with the Renaissance era Disney movies, which I guess they were shooting for. It fixes the problem of Disney's princes and princesses being shallow, simplistic characters completely. They tried it with Jasmine first, and still did a good job, but I think Tiana is possibly Disney's most developed female lead. The plot is also very rich and detailed compared to its source material, making it very fresh and enjoyable.
  • Snow White And The Seven Dwarves: I just love the dwarves and their personalities and interactions. Snow White, not so much... but this is still the best you can make Snow White without changing its basic plot around a bunch.
• Pixar
  • Toy Story Trilogy: A nostalgic series that brings its CGI characters to life in the best possible way, from the sweet beginning to the very Bittersweet Ending. I feel really lucky to be born in the perfect time frame to experience these three movies in the most personal and powerful way: the first two movies that are about being young and having fun were a prominent part of my own childhood, and the third one introduced themes of growing up, letting your childhood go and even death wrapped it up in a poignant, emotionally explosive way that I will never forget.
  • The Incredibles: This movie deserves special mention for how unique it is from other Pixar and Disney movies... I never would've expected the right to die to be brought up in such a movie, and this also probably has the highest Parental Bonus count.

Games

• Nintendo: I may come across as a fanboy, but the fact is I'm simply not interested in most video games. Nintendo was there during my childhood and they've made an impression on me with their brand, and I just see other games as bland and uninteresting.
  • Kirby: I've played and love most of the games in this series. Its extreme ease and simplistic design give it next to no replay value most of the time, but the first time through is always a blast.
  • NES: This system itself will always be my favorite. I grew up playing it, even though its popularity was before my time (I was born the same year the last games were coming out for it). At the time I wanted a newer system, but I never forgot how great these games were. Its good games also have essentially infinite replay value.
    • Kirby's Adventure: A game released late in the NES' lifetime but damn if it didn't reach the system's full potential.
    • Mega Man: I was late to this one (9 was my first game) but became addicted to it. I listen to its music a lot, too.
    • Super Mario Bros: The whole series.
    • Super Mario Bros 3: This one gets special special mention for being my favorite game ever. Its numerous suits and varied worlds make it a fun experience, and has pretty good music too. This game simply never gets old.
  • {{Pokémon}}: I was late to this one as well (started with Platinum) but it is a very detailed, addicting game. However, I mostly play it in short bursts and then get bored of it until the next one comes out.
  • Super Smash Bros: The only fighting game worth playing in my opinion. The controls are well-designed to make it easy to fully utilize a character's moveset, and the gameplay twist that you have to try and knock your opponents out of the ring makes it really fun. Also the varied stages, loose, free feel of the controls, and the fact that the characters are almost all Nintendo.

Miscellaneous Things

• Classic Disney Shorts: I've described these as "the best animation can get."
  • Lonesome Ghosts: The short that made me decide that Classic Disney Shorts were the best animation can get.
• Beanie Babies: D'AWW WUVUMS

Tropes I Am

This Troper shows examples of the following tropes:

• Anything That Moves: I'm a non-sex example. I'm just attracted to pretty much everyone that is human.
• Bi The Way: I've "come out" to several people in a way that was almost just like this, too.
• Dandere: I am often quiet, and just never really have anything to say to most people. But people who I feel comfortable enough with, I can be fairly talkative with and try to spend time with them whenever I can.
• Daydream Believer: The fact that fictional characters aren't real changes little about how I feel about them. If a series follows logic well enough and remains consistent, the characters are real enough to me. I cry at the Tear Jerkers and feel happy at the Heartwarming Moments.
• Everythings Better With Monkeys: I have a modest collection of Beanie Baby monkey plushies, ranging from chimps to apes to lemurs.
• Everything's Cuter with Kittens
• Loads And Loads Of Characters: Since I tend to cross over characters from my various series.
• Narm: Where my current username came from was a video of me on YouTube doing terrible voice acting, which I decided to lampshade by putting in a "THAT '897' GUY HAS A SHIT VOICE" sign. I use "897" a lot in my usernames.
• Troll: Sometimes I do it. Yep.
• TV Tropes Will Enhance Your Life: I get trapped here all the dang time, but I like it enough that I never mind that. There's something inherently entertaining about this place. And anyway, it's given me a fun place to hang out any time I want and made me laugh, educated me, improved my vocabulary/grammar, AND gives me story ideas. Or at least teaches me that Tropes Are Tools.

Tropes I Like

These Tropes are Pretty Good

• Cartoon Bomb: It's just... cool. No idea why.
• Chekhov's Gun
• Eye Glasses
• Hey Its That Voice

Pet Peeve Tropes

These Tropes Suck

• AMV: I think this acronym should stand for "animated music video" instead of "anime music video." I'm personally not a fan of these types of videos at all, I think it's just another way people use other people's creations as if they, as fans, have some special connection with said creation. But that aside, things like that should not take away acronyms that should be used for things that are actually art. And I don't mean anime isn't art, I mean the way people use it in AM Vs isn't art. It may as well be called "animated music video" anyway, even as it is, because the whole "anime is not animation" distinction kind of annoys me in general.
• Animation Age Ghetto: Oooooooooohh. Yes. That was me steaming with rage. This trope is just plain terrible. It seems that the vast majority of animation is "family" entertainment, yes, but people seem to think that for adults to enjoy something "family"-oriented, it needs to have "mature themes," which in my experience tends to mean either High Octane Nightmare Fuel, sex, or some other taboo thing. I can't escape the feeling that when someone says that certain movies are too juvenile, they're talking about the fact that its subject matter isn't angsty or offensive enough, but the same movie not animated wouldn't seem like a kid movie to them.
• Closer to Earth: Really any trope that makes double standards out of gender.
• Forced Level-Grinding: This is why I dislike most RPG's.
• 100% Completion: This trope's really starting to bug me. Looking for useless pieces of shit that have nothing to do with the game is boring. This is a full-on Berserk Button when you unlock something from 100% completion and it involves finding countless pieces of crap scattered all over the levels.
• Moral Guardians: Especially when it comes to things like censoring very, very mild nudity. Like, seriously, what's wrong with, for example, a butt? It makes SOME sense for gender-specific body parts such as genitals, but despite the sexual attraction people feel for that particular body part, that's basically like censoring a neck, for example, or elbows. It will never have a negative effect on anyone.
• Pedo Hunt: I believe the solution to preventing child abuse lies more in allowing pedophiles a way to get help and support than ostracizing them and making them feel like monsters. [[{{virped.org}} If you don't know what I mean, hopefully this site can explain it better.]]
• Sequelitis