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Rename / Guess the trope (Newer Crowner 12.30): Green Lantern Ring

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Deadlock Clock: Mar 30th 2012 at 11:59:00 PM
ArtemisStrong Wizard/Father of Tom from The Mended Drum Since: Jun, 2011
Wizard/Father of Tom
#51: Oct 21st 2011 at 8:48:46 AM

[up][up]That's why the first line of the trope's description bothers me: "A nonspecific, intentionally vaguely defined ability of a character."

Get a slant at this glossary of Pulp Detective terms. It rates. Pipe that?
Spark9 Since: Nov, 2010
#52: Oct 21st 2011 at 8:51:55 AM

Hm, perhaps we should reach agreement over the trope definition before deciding on the trope name.

ArtemisStrong Wizard/Father of Tom from The Mended Drum Since: Jun, 2011
Wizard/Father of Tom
#53: Oct 21st 2011 at 2:41:46 PM

"A power that is specific and limited, yet by its nature can be used in less intuitive ways by a user with the creative chops to do so"?

Get a slant at this glossary of Pulp Detective terms. It rates. Pipe that?
Arha Since: Jan, 2010
#54: Oct 21st 2011 at 2:55:45 PM

Well, we seem to have at least two tropes here, possibly three.

  1. A power based around the user's imagination. If they can think of it, they can make it. The Green Lantern ring, the Marble Phantasm in Tsukihime which allows the user to recreate any phenomenon possible in nature up to dropping the moon on people (gravity) and the art book Haruna has in Negima that lets her create golems or machines or whatever.
  2. A power that has a wide range of applications, such as the control over electricity that Mikoto in To Aru Majutsu No Index has, which has allowed for electric attacks, the ability to make a railgun of sorts, magnetism, walking on walls and more.
  3. A third possible type is something that is loosely defined, such as the devil fruits in One Piece. They are apparently mostly limited by the user's imagination and never get any stronger, the user just gets more creative. One character took the concept of 'Push' and used it to use pseudo teleportation, attack deflection, 'pushing' damage out of a target and putting it somewhere else or pushing a large amount of air into a smaller space and then using the compressed air as an explosive attack of sorts.

edited 21st Oct '11 2:56:48 PM by Arha

Discar Since: Jun, 2009
shimaspawn from Here and Now Since: May, 2010 Relationship Status: In your bunk
#56: Oct 21st 2011 at 3:00:48 PM

[up] I think that it's one of the whys behind that trope, but it's not the trope itself and #2 isn't confined to elemental powers.

Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. Dick
Arha Since: Jan, 2010
#57: Oct 21st 2011 at 3:02:21 PM

I don't agree. They are related, but the wide range of Mikoto's abilities in this example are largely unrelated to how powerful she is. If she was just capable of zapping people, she would probably still be one of the most powerful characters in the series. She has a single power with a very wide range of applications but it has little to do with her output. To continue with the same example, there are a lot of characters far stronger than her with much more limited or niche abilities. Or ones that have those weird niche abilities and insist on making them have a lot of applications, thus subverting the Inverse Law of Complexity to Power but still falling under this trope.

Anyway, assuming we do a three way split along those lines or even just two ways, would either trope keep the name Green Lantern Ring? Consensus is against a rename at the moment. If you ask me, the name applies mostly to the first trope I outlined.

edited 21st Oct '11 3:13:13 PM by Arha

Worldmaker Title? What Title? Since: Jun, 2010
Title? What Title?
#58: Oct 21st 2011 at 8:26:48 PM

I brought this point up on the first page, but I think it needs to be said again. And for the person who thought I was talking about keeping "Green Lantern Ring", next time I suggest actually reading the post before replying:

While I think there needs to be a rename, using the phrase Swiss Army Superpowers is just asking for some cultural-illiterate whose been living under a rock for the last century to start up a TRS thread about the title, complaining that he has no clue what "Swiss Army" means and how it applies to superpowers and how TV Tropes isn't just about the US and we need to dumb things down AGAIN. And I'm betting he'll use the unnecessarily sarcastic Guess That Trope thread title (the one that assumes that, since the OP doesn't get it, no one could possibly get it).

I oppose dumbing things down, but I also oppose needlessly putting every single farking trope in TRS because someone doesn't get it and refuses to even try. So let's go for something bland and unclever and easy to understand, just to forgo further unpleasantness down the road.

Being in a Japanese-produced work is not enough of a difference to warrant its own trope.
Deboss I see the Awesomeness. from Awesomeville Texas Since: Aug, 2009
I see the Awesomeness.
#59: Oct 21st 2011 at 11:21:53 PM

Swiss-Army Superpower sounds fine to me for whatever let's you do a bunch of stuff.

Fight smart, not fair.
Arha Since: Jan, 2010
#60: Oct 22nd 2011 at 8:46:27 AM

The problem with that Deboss is that the split outlined above lets you do lots of stuff with each power.

Arha Since: Jan, 2010
#61: Oct 22nd 2011 at 12:09:55 PM

Anyway, should we have a page action crowner then? I was thinking the options would be to split it three ways as outlined above with type 1 more or less creation based power, type two clever and widespread application of a single ability and type 3 an ability that is vaguely defined. There have claims that type two falls under Inverse Law of Complexity to Power so a second option would be to just split it two ways. Final option is to do nothing, including no rename, since that failed.

Am I missing any possible actions to take?

Deboss I see the Awesomeness. from Awesomeville Texas Since: Aug, 2009
I see the Awesomeness.
#62: Oct 22nd 2011 at 4:16:44 PM

The one where you can specifically create stuff from your imagination or something, like the actual green lantern ring.

Fight smart, not fair.
Lua Since: Jan, 2001
#63: Oct 23rd 2011 at 4:51:11 AM

[up] I think that's option one?

For what it's worth, I'm on board with a rename. I was assuming it meant "trinket that gives you superpowers" but it turns out that's Ring of Power.

Arha Since: Jan, 2010
bwburke94 I am mad scientist! It's so cool! from 1.048596% (Y2: Electric Boogaloo) Relationship Status: She does the things you do, but she is an IBM
I am mad scientist! It's so cool!
#65: Oct 23rd 2011 at 11:06:02 AM

As the original poster in this topic, I support splitting the page into three tropes. Guys, we need more votes on the crowner!

2025: the year it all ends?
troacctid (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#66: Oct 23rd 2011 at 11:25:49 AM

Was there a wick or example check? I'd like to see how many examples are falling into these categories.

Arha Since: Jan, 2010
#67: Oct 23rd 2011 at 11:32:51 AM

In general, I think a lot of people are using it as type 1, but the description says type 3. I don't know about type 2, but if it doesn't have a lot of examples on the page I can just take it to ykttw.

Arha Since: Jan, 2010
#68: Oct 26th 2011 at 10:55:11 AM

Crowner has only been running three days, but it has obvious consensus for the three way split. Okay, so, now we have three tropes. Green Lantern Ring still works as a title for the general 'create lots of shit' type 1 trope, which had a previous crowner with consensus not to rename, though it may no longer be applicable. Now we need names for the other two. These tropes are roughly Multi Use Single Power and Vaguely Defined Power. The latter name doesn't address the fact that the vaguely defined part is used to give it really broad applications so I'm not entirely happy with it.

crazysamaritan NaNo 4328 / 50,000 from Lupin III Since: Apr, 2010
NaNo 4328 / 50,000
#69: Oct 26th 2011 at 11:08:38 AM

Anything With Watermelons

Name as a thesis? Not searchable, but i think it conveys vagueness very well.

Link to TRS threads in project mode here.
DrStarky Okay Guy from Corn And Pig Land Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Staying up all night to get lucky
Okay Guy
#70: Oct 26th 2011 at 11:19:54 AM

Why not just name the first one something like Imagnation Fueled Power?

Put me in motion, drink the potion, use the lotion, drain the ocean, cause commotion, fake devotion, entertain a notion, be Nova Scotian
Arha Since: Jan, 2010
#71: Oct 26th 2011 at 11:23:27 AM

^^ Well, it's certainly vague, but it has nothing to do with powers.

crazysamaritan NaNo 4328 / 50,000 from Lupin III Since: Apr, 2010
NaNo 4328 / 50,000
#72: Oct 26th 2011 at 11:32:59 AM

His Power Is Anything With Watermelons

Link to TRS threads in project mode here.
Arha Since: Jan, 2010
#73: Oct 26th 2011 at 11:44:45 AM

That sounds more like What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway? to me. Also, I assume you really want that Scryed reference but it's kind of weird.

Raso Cure Candy Since: Jul, 2009
Cure Candy
#74: Oct 26th 2011 at 11:49:42 AM

What the hell does watermelons have to do with anything?

Anyway I am inclined to rename all three to prevent it from being mistaken for all three and leave Green Lantern Ring a disambig for all three, like what Tenchi Solution is going to be.

[up][up][up][up] I like that one

edited 26th Oct '11 11:56:59 AM by Raso

Sparkling and glittering! Jan-Ken-Pon!
crazysamaritan NaNo 4328 / 50,000 from Lupin III Since: Apr, 2010
NaNo 4328 / 50,000
#75: Oct 26th 2011 at 12:30:25 PM

[up][up] Nah, it's just funny.

[up] exactly!

edited 26th Oct '11 12:31:19 PM by crazysamaritan

Link to TRS threads in project mode here.

AlternativeTitles: GreenLanternRing
22nd Dec '11 4:50:22 PM

Crown Description:

Alt titles for the third trope decided by the previous crowner: A power that that is loosely defined and thus capable of a great deal of stretching what it is capable of. An example would be a hypothetical power of 'Pushing' being used to 'push' people at massive speed in order to fake teleportation, to push concepts or to push away attacks.

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