Comedic monster.

Would a trope that is essentially a character that is supposed to be monstrous for comedy be something worth YKTTW'ing or would it likely be bogged down with the same problems Complete Monster did and become an edit warring cesspit? I'm thinking of stuff like this specifically.

I think that's just a Black Comedy version of a Complete Monster. Is it a prevalent trope?

Oh boy I could see that being Flame Bait open to massive debates. Like say Haruhi Suzumiya who is suppose to be a Comedic Monster but a lot of people dont take it that way.

edited 20th Jan '12 1:58:22 AM by Raso

Well, it seems to be prevalent in dark humor based works.

@ Raso, whether or not you find it funny isn't important if it's a character that does horrible things for laughs. I do not, and never will, give a shit about how people interpret a work. The question is whether or not people could actually write examples without it becoming a festering hell hole.

Well, yeah, it's going to be Flame Bait. It's going to be the comedy version of Complete Monster, right down to why everyone tries to get their pet example on the page. Except instead of thinking it makes their work better, they'll think it makes their work more humorous.

That said, I don't give a rat's ass about whether it'd be flame bait or not, like how @4 doesn't care about anyone's take on a work. It's a trope, and it should be documented.

Haruhi would be a great example. I honestly don't find her early antics funny (call me overly sensitive, but I'm not fond of Rape as Comedy - which, come to think of it, probably has many examples of those who'd fall under this trope idea). That said, whether or not I think she succeeds at being funny is immaterial. The question is whether the author intended her to be funny - that is unambiguously true.

Well spotted. I imagine there will be plenty of memetic rapists in the list, really flame-baitish.

Yes, but the question is, are we going to let Flame Bait get in the way of the wiki's mission, to document tropes? I think that every time we get rid of or avoid making a trope page due to worrying about such things, we fail to live up to the goals of the site.

Hey, to steal a quote, tropin' ain't easy.

Don't we already have Comedic Sociopathy as a trope? Edit: Except that's not really what's being discussed here. Hmm.

edited 20th Jan '12 9:30:48 AM by Fighteer

The difference would be that Comedic Sociopathy would be about the action (and thus not necessarily exclusive to the theoretical Comedic Monster), while the Comedic Monster would be about the character that specializes in them and, similar to a Complete Monster, is beyond redemption.

EDIT: Ninja'd, but the point is still relevant if others are curious.

edited 20th Jan '12 9:43:00 AM by 32_Footsteps

We do have Heroic Comedic Sociopath. Pretty close.

edited 21st Jan '12 2:44:16 PM by troacctid

Would Xykon from The Order of the Stick (at least in the earlier strips) count for this?

Xykon is that and Affably Evil (one of the most common traits among this), I'd say that Belkar would be as well, since he's the Token Evil Teammate.

Another that jumps to mind is Lothar from Exterminatus Now (he at one point starts awake and shouts "you can't prove I ate those babies!") or possibly Black Mage from Eight Bit Theater, probably Thief too. We could always try and limit it to things with incredibly dark humor.

I know this is mostly the duty of YKTTW, I just want to know if others think we might actually be able to build this properly. Comedically Horrible also comes to mind for a name, which would be a trait.

I imagine if you focus on the comedic bit, there won't as much flame bait.

Sure, occasionally someone will pop up and say "TAHTS NOT FUNNY!1", but it's easy to revert their edits.

edited 22nd Jan '12 3:27:09 AM by MangaManiac

Alright then, if others think this trope can be created without it becoming a festering cesspit of bile, I'll take the idea to YKTTW.

Trope in question.

I guess it's time to lock this.

Locking