Tacked on secondary definition: Cutting Off The Branches

For some reason this trope has a second definition, which is, in my opinion, not particularly related to the main one.

Not only does that have nothing to do with adaptations or sequels, it's not a trope at all, but an audience reaction and these two shouldn't ever mix. A character getting their own story after the initial release would probably fall under Ascended Extra, but that's not an inversion of this.

So, can we axe that part? I haven't checked yet, but I don't think it has too many examples.

I'm in favor of Axing it before trope decay sets in.

Axing it sounds good.

Ax it. It's something unrelated that someone added without discussion. It has nothing to do with the original definition.

Done. I also cut a bunch of examples, which didn't belong, but the page may still need some work. Someone should go through the wicks as well at some point.

edited 19th Mar '11 5:24:31 AM by Killomatic

After looking through the wicks, I found little misuse that used the secondary definition that was once part of the trope description.

However, I did see a good deal of misuse with examples using the Road Cone redirect, many of which used the trope to simply refer to a single work having multiple branches or routes. I may be wrong about this, but from what I can tell, that is not what Cutting Off the Branches is about. I usually swapped in Multiple Endings in such cases of misuse, but I am not sure that is an exact fit either, since at least one of the branched paths had a pretty similar ending.

I wonder if there is another existing trope that would fit those examples better or if there should be a new YKTTW for story routes/paths in general.

edited 1st Sep '11 1:29:26 PM by LouieW

I'm failing to Guess The Trope on this one. Is it about killing family members to reduce the branches in your family tree?

I don't like this title either. And yes, this isn't about Multiple Endings by themselves, but that the sequel can only use one ending for its backstory.

BTW, 157 wikilinks (82 from redirects), 92 inbounds.

edited 2nd Sep '11 9:02:58 AM by Stratadrake

This was renamed before, I forget from what, but whatever people think of it now it's *way* better than what it was. Its numbers will probably remain low-ish because it's limited to certain types of games.

If we rename, we could just add "plot" to the title: Cutting Off The Plot Branches. That would keep the metaphor, while preventing literal or family tree-related (heh) interpretations of the title. There's probably no risk for misuse, but there might be a risk for underuse (because people seeing the trope name don't make the connection to what it's supposed to describe).

But I don't really think a rename is needed either. If the trope is hard to find, we could always add more redirects.

That shoehorned secondary definition is just Fanfic Fuel.

edited 2nd Sep '11 10:37:37 AM by DragonQuestZ

I think it's a good idea to just add "plot" to the name; that would help a lot.

Elle,

That being said, I would support a rename to Cutting Off The Plot Branches if we made a new trope that is just "work has plot branches." I think that Multiple Endings is a bit too specific, especially since some of the examples have branching off points in their stories, but do not really have different endings.

edited 2nd Sep '11 12:33:13 PM by LouieW

Sure, I'll go boot up a Branching Plotline YKTTW and let's see how it goes.

If I may bump this. But what's the trope here?

The first paragraph sets up a situation. The second makes a quick mention of difficulty of sequels, and it is mostly focused on making an adaptation, while the third is a big "related to".

Yet all the examples are examples about sequels picking a specific ending amongst multiple endings as the canonical one. But the description never comes out and says this. It meanders around the point.

It's picking one ending to be the definitive ending from a work that has Multiple Endings.

It would then be best for the definition to be re-written to actually say that. Because right now it does not.

It is a bit of a mess isn't it?

You're right. Let's cut off that branch and graft in a new one.

Yep. This is one trope where it's nice because the name is great, we just need a new definition. Why don't we start with:

"If a work has Multiple Endings, later adaptations or sequels will choose just one of those endings, discarding the others."

Yes, it's a sentence, and very laconic, but it's better than what's up there now.

edited 18th Sep '11 7:42:16 AM by shimaspawn

I am all for that.

Since there was some talk about renaming this trope, there is now a page action crowner for it here. Feel free to add other options as you see fit.

I find the definition of the trope right now to be reasonably clear since I think its meaning can be gleaned from the second paragraph and laconic without too much difficulty. I am more concerned about possible misuse for the Branching Plotline YKTTW that Stratadrake made a while back since I believe the current name does not make it very clear that the trope is about adaptions.

edited 19th Nov '11 12:27:39 PM by LouieW

It's not just about adaptations. It covers sequels, and any other stuff that would have to care about how the multi-ending thing ended.

edited 19th Nov '11 2:41:45 PM by troacctid

Sorry about misinterpreting the trope's definition there. In any event, I am not sure that Cutting Off the Branches really helps one to know that the trope is about sequels either.

Are we sure that this used to be Road Cones? Because I seem to remember reading that some time ago, thinking that it really was just "a game with multiple branches, usually selected by decisions the player makes". Is it possible Road Cones was merged into this or something?

As for the alleged variation, it sounds like some sort of combination of Ensemble Dark Horse, Canon Fodder (aka Fanfic Bait), and Ascended Extra.