The new TVTropes app (in beta testing)
has resurrected The Badge Shop
and moderators can now give out award badges via the app and anyone who uses the app can add any other badge to their account for free! Badges are viewable in all sections of the site on the app (Forums, Queries, Discussions, TLP and Reviews)
The new app should be available to the general public within the next couple of weeks!
NEW BADGE SUBMISSIONS:
- Users can submit designs for new badges for review via this thread. If approved by the moderators and the admins any moderator can then add that new badge to the badge shop via the Badge Shop Manager.
- New badges should be of higher quality and not appear pixelated like current older badges, we can now upload higher quality images for them.
- New badges should have a transparent background so they don't show a different color background when on night vision.
(Started this thread based on this thread/post.
)
For those that are unaware, one of the ideas for bringing in some money from the forum-side of the wiki is to sell "badges" (sort-of like the Herald one) that you can buy and put up as part of your "gingerbread" .
The shop can be found by clicking on the "basket" at the top of any post. There is a 1 USD -> 1Þ exchange rate.
Each person who buys a badge will also be able to customize the hover text that people see for their particular badges. (Note: Only plain text is usable for a caption. Potholes and other wiki formatting will not work)
There are three slots under the avatar and above the "title" space to display them. You will be able to get to your gallery (where you can chose which ones you want to show and their order) by clicking on these slots.
If you wish to participate in making the badges, they need to be a max of 24x24 pix.
The only things we are completely keeping out of the store are symbols that are generally associated with any religion (the Yin-Yang and such are more known for other reasons), gender/sex/sexual orientation badges, and ones that infringe on copyrights. If you see things that you think do infringe, you probably don't have to worry about it. Those are images that don't match their originals (the heart container), are free-to-use, or the original copyright owner has lost their privilege to go after the "offending" images by not going after them in the past.
Please use this thread for everything badge-related.
The rest of this post is taken up by badge ideas, links to badges people have made, and default text ideas. NOTE: The list has not been updated in quite a while (and will probably never be) now that badge ideas/submissions appear naturally in the thread and go strait into the shop.
Mod-given
- wiki visual artist
: True Art is Taxonomical
- en-lightener
- Do a great deal of grunt work in the Wiki
- re-railing OTC threads : Rerailway Conductor
Purchased for own use
- Hey! I hang out in _____ forum! (might use the wiki images—a book for Lit—for these)
- Video Games : Wii would like to trope. | Don't throw this into the screen—again. | Got to love those pixelated llamas.
- Lit : Has a big enough book that it's a certified weapon. | An avid bookworm that had barrowed into the forum's soil. | Who needs pictures when you have paper/text? | Hardcover or paperback? The hardest choice since paper and plastic—although it's definitely paper.
- Amime/manga
- Tabletop games
- a d20
: d20 | The Troll swings at you with the stolen banhammer roll for a saving throw. | Game masters always keep a set of dice handy. | For the roleplayer who like a little...randomness.
- 6 more options for a d20
- The "20" on a d20
| You rolled a critical! Unfortunately, that could be a bad thing...
- a d20
- Wiki Talk
- IP : Can choose the right pics for a trope page easily.
- TRS
- a TRS hard hat
: Anarchitect : Trope Repair Crew
- a TRS hard hat
- Western Animation
- Webcomics
- Visual Novels
- Music : (Lady Gaga) Snap, snap, trope that hit on the radio! | (Carefull With That Ax) Careful with that dubstep!
- Live Action TV
- Live Action Film
- Comics
- Visual Arts
- Radio
- Seasonal/holiday
- Spring
- Summer
- Fall
- Halloween
- Winter
- Christmas
- Easter
- 4th of July
- "My country's birthday"
- Affiliations
- the anti-discrimination "rainbow"
| One of many QUILTBAGS.
-
7 religious symbols (different religions)Vetoed - US armed forces (Army, USMC, USAF, and USN)
These do not infringe on copyright... Right?
- US Army
- US Marine Core
- US Armed Forces
- US Navy
- the anti-discrimination "rainbow"
- Other (interest and personality related come to mind)
- Ask me for help
| Better than your average help desk.
- Celebration
- References
-
Poke-ball(copyrighted) - Pynchon "bugle"
| We Await Silent Trystero's Empire!
- An Aleph null
(math term, link to
The Other Wiki)
- Slendy's Operator symbol
from The Slender Man Mythos
- Eye of Providence
as used in the US
- Script/writing
from The Lord of the Rings
- A Companion Cube
| Remains safely operational up to 4000 degrees Kelvin. | Will never threaten to stab you.
- A Cthulhu-head
- a Wug
from an English-speaking linguistics test
)
- EU
-
- sports' balls (including pool balls)
- All 15 pool balls
- Baseball ball
- Basketball ball
- Weapons
- Tv Tropes references ]]
- Gems (originally based on "chaos gems")
- Anamals
- Random : a pair of rose-colored glasses : a boat/ship]]
- skull and cross bones
- Doomsday clock
- The power-button symbol
- A Fleur-de-lis
(The Other Wiki link
)
- a fire extinguisher
| No need to call 911! | Useful for extinguishing flame wars—or not.
- Omega
- Horseshoe (flipped omega)
- skull and cross bones
- Ask me for help
- Stuff that was "gift only"
- Tropers who are great at making puns
- a badge(r)
| Very punny, indeed.
Other ideas
Profile Badges that direct others to certain other accounts"have to reserve what happens by clicking a badge. So, no badges that link elsewhere."
- Possible "double" badge for Heralds
- Custom badges
Edited by kory on Feb 10th 2025 at 11:26:30 AM
@ Shimaspawn: Cool thank you!
"You've got your transmission and your live wire, but your circuit's dead." - MediaIt's very very very unlikely to ever become one, Eddie. On our forum we're much more likely to have issues with Mass Effect and My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic than sexuality. Our forum is very accepting of pretty much anything on the spectrum, straights included. People are comfortable expressing themselves here. We should encourage that. It's part of what makes the place so friendly.
edited 17th May '12 11:59:58 PM by shimaspawn
Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. DickShima, I think you're missing the point.
Eddie is saying that if someone has badges, and if the possible badges include one that carries an important social message that is current and one that carries a heavy sense of "if you're moral, you have to endorse this message," then there's automatically a pressure to pick that badge. Not having it will be read as "you don't endorse this message."
Now, you could say that if we had an anti-slavery or anti-rape badge, most folks would say "this is the default position so I don't need to state it for it to be assumed that I hold it," but the difference is that the LGBT right issue is current right now, and it's one that's all over the political, religious and social debates of the whole world and especially the West, which is our primary source of our userbase. So you can't have people with a pro-LGBT message and ones without, without creating some kind of tension.
Decades from now, it'll seem far-fetched that people didn't assume that everyone was pro-LGBT by default, but right now, this is a hot issue and we're better off avoiding it than creating a pressure to endorse the correct position.
Quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur.I just don't see that happening. I don't see there being pressure to pick that badge when most of the badges are far more interesting. The people who have asked for it have been people who are LGTB and want to proclaim it somewhere. That said, the rainbow flag badge isn't what people gravitate to and has never been on any forum I've been on that has similar things.
Weapons, memes, and cute things tend to be what draws people in. People can right now put LGBT things in their user icons. They don't. Most people just don't care enough. Even the people who most vocally support LGBT rights don't put it in their sigs or their icons.
People have the option right now to make a statement. What we have learned is, that really, they're not going to force it on people because they're not doing it now when they have all the tools they need.
I get what you're saying, Eddie, Best Of. I'm just not seeing any pattern of behaviour among our user base that makes it seem at all likely.
Yes, the people who want the flags are almost exclusively people who want to identify themselves. It's the same as the national flags.
edited 18th May '12 12:25:31 AM by shimaspawn
Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. DickHow many straight people can be bothered to actively support other sexualities, much less pay money to wear a badge (only visible in one forum, no less) showing that they support them? For that matter, how many straight people do you think most gay people think can be bothered to?
I personally have no beef with gay people, bi people, transexual people, etc, but I would neither buy any of the LGBT badges nor feel it was compulsory. If anybody tried to give me the "If you're not with me, you're against me" bullshit about it, I'd just give them the virtual equivalent of an odd look and ignore 'em; I suspect most forum-goers here'd do the same.
Ponders too much; thinks too little. Currently goes by Knowlessman.Pretty sure the LGBT rainbow means LGBT-friendly. Pretty rare individual who is all those things at once. I suppose if a person wanted to proclaim they are gay via a badge, that wouldn't be that big a deal. I guess Het people who don't choose to wear a Het badge don't think it is an important thing to announce.
Goal: Clear, Concise and WittyActually, the LGBT rainbow flag tends to mean, gay or lesbian or something in that general area. It's very rare that it's sported by someone who isn't themselves LGBT. I've almost never seen it used just by supporters. It's a pride flag, not a support flag. It's generally worn by those who are proud of what they are.
edited 18th May '12 12:37:53 AM by shimaspawn
Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. DickI'm thinking a het badge would be weird in and of itself, but now I'm wondering why I think that. ...And now I'm debating the safety of referring to it as a "default state," but that's pretty far off-topic.
On topic: Test badge 2 is still invisible to both Safari and Internet Explorer. I dunno if it's supposed to be, but it is. It's also currently the only badge in "unsorted."
EDIT: *coughirework*
edited 18th May '12 1:05:26 AM by Artemis92
Ponders too much; thinks too little. Currently goes by Knowlessman.@shima: It is Eddie's site. Most of us don't think it would be an issue, but he does. I can also say that "we don't have the other sexuality symbols still listed, so what makes the rainbow flag special?" I say take it down for now, let's get the shop up and running, then come back to some of these more controversial badges. Do a crowner on "would you mind (or make a big deal out of it) if someone wore a ______ badge?" and see what happens. I can imagine letting those badges have "test runs" where it is removed if people don't just ignore it and the people who bought that particular badge are "refunded" for their purchase price (Though I have no idea how that could work... especially if they are bought by one person and given out to others).
Also @shima: On another subject, any suggestions on what I should do with the OP at this point? I have been following the thread, but you are now actively putting everything mentioned into the shop and I would be starting from post 942 (hasn't been that much to put in the OP between then and you getting active with the shop). Once you get through all the badges listed on it, I see no reason I shouldn't just cut it down to just "ideas that don't have badges yet."
Yu hav nat sein bod speeling unntil know. (cacke four undersandig tis)the cake is a lie!@1062 Behold the powers of procrastination!
@1064 The reference for Year of the Rabbit is going a bit into the whole background of the Eastern Zodiac, as well as the differences between it in different countries.
The basics are that thirteen animals got invited to a celestial banquet to become the zodiac, but the cat was tricked into oversleeping by the rat (and thus missing the party). Thus the cat got left off the zodiac and cats hunted rats in vengeance. However, in Vietnam, the cat did make it in, and the rabbit was the one tricked into missing it. It's an acknowledgement that we only are referencing the Chinese version of the Eastern Zodiac, not the Vietnamese one.
Based on how I currently feel, I know what badge I really would get behind - a mug of coffee. Though I'd probably caption that "Chocolate, coffee, or tea, this is the cuppa you really need."
At this point, the ones left to caption are the country flags where I don't immediately know a pithy quote, and the pseudo-moogle in Interests. And for the latter, I wanted to make sure that we aren't crossing any lines with it (from what I can tell, we aren't as long as we do not use "kupo" in the default description).
Barring any further additions, of course.
Reminder: Offscreen Villainy does not count towards Complete Monster.I'll add a coffee badge to the list. I'm currently working through it trying to get things done, though I have to admit, I'm not doing things in the order suggested. Just as I get ideas. Right now I'm working on the elements.
Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. Dick*COUGHHeardYouTheFirstTimeCOUGH*
Elements, eh? Fun... though I'm going to have to think of another comment on silver, since I already used the werewolf gag earlier.
Reminder: Offscreen Villainy does not count towards Complete Monster.
Classical elements right now. Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Wood, Metal, Aether, Void. There's five different systems of five elements, but with those eight elements I cover all of them.
And yes, I've seen your firework. It's really not recognizably a firework. it's too spidery. Fireworks are more sparkly. I'll tweak it some later, but it's lower on my list.
edited 18th May '12 9:25:45 AM by shimaspawn
Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. Dick
Oh, those elements. That's probably for the best, because I don't really think that I could manage a good caption for molybdenum.
Also, I know that it might be a bit redundant with the shape already represented in both its own section and under games, but... no Heart?
While you're working on those, here's some sample captions, if they work for you:
- Elements
- Air: Be it a gentle breeze or a mighty tornado, it's always mighty.
- Earth: I truly know what it means... to Rock.
- Fire: FLAME ON!
- Water: Much better than slightly damp.
- Aether: It's stuff... but not as we know it.
- Metal: So cool, it makes a sound just by shining.
- Void: Paradoxically, its presence is marked by absence.
- Wood: As much as a woodchuck could chuck, if, well, you know.
I think I'm going to do a heart elemental badge just so I can caption it: "What kind of lame element is heart anyway?"
I'm also going to do Elemental Rock–Paper–Scissors by doing the rock fist on fire, the scissors with electricity sparking, and the paper dripping.
Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. DickIn retrospect, while The Human Torch is a classic in terms of fire users, maybe a badge describing flames on a forum isn't the best... I like Willbyr's better than mine.
Do you need suggestions on the design of the elements, Shima, or do you have enough ideas on your own?
Reminder: Offscreen Villainy does not count towards Complete Monster.

Compulsory maiyass, excuse my insubordination.
EDIT: Um. I was afraid this would wind up as a topper. :/
edited 17th May '12 11:53:20 PM by Artemis92
Ponders too much; thinks too little. Currently goes by Knowlessman.