Trope Description Improvement Drive

I want to delete this specific part from Thin-Line Animation:

It's also known as the "CalArts Style", due to allegedly being spread by alumni from the California Institute of the Arts. The term was originally coined by The Ren & Stimpy Show creator John Kricfalusi on his blog, regarding how certain animated films in The '90s heavily copied Disney's animation and art style, with the original meaning being completely warped and lost over time.

Some bemoan the style as lazy and samey, as it has been spread to many pre-existing IPs like The Powerpuff Girls, SpongeBob SquarePants, ThunderCats and even Froot Loops. Others say that the style is just another periodic style that has dominated in a time period, like John Kricfalusi's influence in the early 90s, Thick-Line Animation of the late 90s, or the animesque shows of the mid 2000s. Despite this, the style has endured, and can be used just as well as any other.

This is basically stealth complaining and doesn't have a purpose - TLA's counterpart, Thick-Line Animation, has nothing talking about the style's reception, and is much shorter and to the point. Removing this would make Thin-Line's description closer in length to Thick-Line's.

I think we can keep everything up to "...John Kricfalusi on his blog" because as annoying as that "critique" is, it would still probably be helpful for those trying to search "CalArts style" on the wiki.

Edited by mightymewtron on Jul 6th 2021 at 3:25:42 PM

Keep first paragraph, cut second.

@Delibirda, Everything from "Somehow, this leads to vitriolic..." to "similar to an addiction" isn't necessary.

The "Characters may be shipped despite being..." needs to be cut down to only listing three or four cases; it's so full of potholes and annoying to read.

I think specific examples from works (like the "Pepperony", "Wuffara", "NaruHina"... paragraph) could be trimmed too. No need to insert examples into the description.

Reposting because this never got answered: Can I delete the first paragraph from Ambiguously Absent Parent, since it's Example as a Thesis and the second one describes the trope just fine?

& Deleted the second paragraph and replaced the first with this:

"It is also known as the "CalArts Style", a term originally coined by The Ren & Stimpy Show creator John Kricfalusi, regarding how certain animated films in The '90s heavily copied Disney's animation and art style, with the original meaning being completely warped and lost over time."

Edited by Crossover-Enthusiast on Jul 6th 2021 at 1:34:40 PM

Over in ATT, concerns were raised about Afro Asskicker's description. Specifically, it has attracted outside negative attention (from a Steven Universe animator, no less) over the following opening lines:

Concerns were raised that these lines are racist, due to the implication that afros are inherently funny and not good for fighting. I (and others) feel they should they be rewritten. Should they? And if so, how?

Edited by themayorofsimpleton on Jul 7th 2021 at 4:38:25 AM

Since I was directed here by Ask The Tropers I haven't figured out exactly how it ought to happen but I feel that Afro Asskicker's description, particularly the first few lines, could use a redo since the emphasis is less on them being badass and more implies wearing one is inherently funny (Since the very first sentence potholes to Funny Afro) and impractical in a fight, which comes off as insensitive at best to outright racist at worst.

EDIT: 'd

Edited by rmctagg09 on Jul 7th 2021 at 4:52:09 AM

Is there any real-world explanation for why an afro would be a liability? If so we can maybe expand on the idea and move it further down.

If not, chop it.

Is it actually tropeworthy, or is it one of those X + Badass tropes?

All I've seen is a bunch of conjecture from non-black people, and no real "This is proof that this could be an issue like how you can control someone with long hair that goes down their back". There's plenty of professional Black martial artists out there who wear afros, if not quite as big as the ones you see in Blaxploitation flicks, while maybe you could argue about a really big one, overall there's nothing particularly impractical about fighting while having one.

So I'd say if nothing else it ought to be chopped.

The archetype of the afro-wearing fighter or martial artist is a pretty entrenched one so I'd say that's tropeable.

Edited by rmctagg09 on Jul 7th 2021 at 6:07:21 AM

I saw someone mention that the liability is also mentioned in Badass Longhair, but it makes more sense there. I'm not black, but I'm still pretty sure a big afro doesn't get in the way as much as having really long hair does, since it doesn't seem to obscure the face.

I think the other issue with long hair is that it's something the enemy can grab. Less of an issue with an afro since it's higher.

Either way, I agree that said part should be cut.

The introduction should be removed and the "they can be really sensitive about it" line is in bad taste. But keep the rest.

Afro Asskicker has its origins in the Blaxploitation genre , which was all about reclaiming the Scary Black Man stereotype into something cool. The trope is about a particular character archetype based on those films, who tends to be smooth, wisecracking, a cool and stylish fighter, and unapologetically Black. The afro plays along with these traits in two ways: being cool and stylish (it was an in look in the 70's, now is more associated with '70s Hair), and by being a hairstyle long associated with Black Pride. There are also some connotations similar to Barbarian Longhair thrown in as well.

These are the aspects the new description should focus on imo. It's not trait+badass, it's a character archetype.

Edited by naturalironist on Jul 8th 2021 at 8:10:28 AM

Wanted to get some backing to change a paragraph in the trope page description for Classical Music. The concern specifically is for the third paragraph in, which says the dates which characterize this type of music are arguable. I know this genre well, and anyone who also knows it will disagree. The genre runs from the Medieval Era to the present day, and later in the trope description, the various periods are stated and elaborated upon. Every music history book teaches this wide time boundary as being classical music.

There is such a concept as Common Period Classical Music, which encompasses work from the late Baroque to the early 20th century, but that’s a different thing.

Permission requested to change this part.

Thanks!

I don't like the description on Obsessively Normal for several reasons. I would like to replace it with:

Is everyone fine with this?

What issue do you have with the current description?

Reads very similar to the current description— what changes are you proposing?

I think you need to write a Sandbox with your own proposed description first since not all of us are knowledgeable about the genre and its history, we need to see the changes to determine whether we like them or not.

I think @Reymma expanded the description and replaced the Knight Templar part with more details but less clumsy?

There is nothing majorly wrong with it, but I feel it has several minor ones:

-Too many unneeded or misleading hyperlinks (Heaven, Hypocrite).

-The last paragraph implies it is only an issue in relation to reality, but in many of the fictional cases the paradox is evident that if you try to be normal, you aren't.

-I don't like linking to videos in the main description that are not from accredited institutions (for one thing, they tend to disappear). The one linked to is made by a respected channel, but is also amateurish and covers several other topics. I simply think it's not needed, a moment's thought is enough.

-The contrast with Creature of Habit is too long with that note.

-That line about the baby dying... Just what?

As you guys have said, my rewrite is still close, but because every paragraph would be changed I wanted to run it by others.

Minorly Mentioned Myths and Monsters has two lengthy sections about specific myths. Should those be split into their own pages?

Edited by NitroIndigo on Jul 9th 2021 at 7:45:15 PM

Definitely. It's basically already soft-split, even if it's done in a bizarre way.

Are we allowed to bring up works here? I can't remember. If we are, there's Anime.Meiji Tokyo Renka. It had no description, and while I managed to scrape something together from the wikipedia page, any help would be appreciated. Also, it might be in the wrong namespace? It might have started as a visual novel, not an anime.

The Gold Digger description is so fucking long. I wanna trim the paragraphs that discuss this trope in real life because that's just Useful Notes and isn't directly related to fiction and also shorten the "important note" paragraph. Thoughts?