On TV Tropes, it's very common for editors to misuse appearance tropes, as well as tropes whose names make them sound like they could be appearance tropes.
Meaningful Appearance tropes are often misused in ways that overlook the "Meaningful" aspect, resulting in Zero Context Examples and misuse in the form of examples that have no meaning even if the tropes themselves are not People Sit on Chairs.
The Appearance Tropes Cleanup sandbox covers tropes with potential issues. Tropes that simply require cleanup will go through this thread, while tropes that require more significant action will have to go through the Trope Repair Shop.
April 2, 2023 update: This thread is no longer for making changes to tropes, and was brought back from the Projects Morgue solely for cleanup. Making changes to tropes is still a job for the Trope Repair Shop.
Edited by GastonRabbit on Apr 2nd 2023 at 9:18:26 AM
(she/her)
I think we should include Flower Motifs in the disambig. I've noticed characters who also have flower motifs listed under this former "trope" while knocking down wicks.
Rock'n'roll never dies!
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
I agree.
Edit: I just saw that it was already added.
Edited by GastonRabbit on Oct 31st 2020 at 8:53:44 AM
Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
(she/her)
Im gonna handle any works Im vaguely familiar with.
Edit: I've only taken care of a couple so far. As a thread newbie, we can't move on to the next trope until all wicks are gone?
Edited by antenna_ears on Nov 1st 2020 at 9:43:20 AM
(she/her)
Yeah, we generally remove clean up all the wicks before we move on.
Macron's notes
(she/her)
(she/her)
(she/her)
The wicks are done (besides a ghost wick and some miscellaneous stuff)!
So, I guess we are doing Funny Afro next?
Macron's notes
Maintenance?
Hollering to update the title.
I'm back!
So, what needs fixing again?
Disambig Needed: Help with those issues! tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13324299140A37493800&page=24#comment-576
Very Spooky
Funny Afro has a fine definition; the problem is, there's lots of examples that are just "afros exist" with no context for the "funny" part.
back lol
(she/her)
I think it's a trope but the description needs to be rewritten and the examples need to be cleaned as most or either ZCE or just a character with an afro and not "afros are often used in gags".
Macron's notes
There are also some issues with Unfortunate Implications where characters who have afros just because they're Black are listed even when it's not for humor. I drafted up a new description a while ago, here's my suggestion:
Definitely an Evolving Trope, as both styles and attitudes about race have changed over time. In The '70s, afros surged in popularity in the United States with the Black Pride movement to become a defining element of '70s Hair. At that time comedic characters with afros cropped up as parodies of the then-popular Afro Asskicker trope or as wise-cracking Black sterotypes. As both the afro hairstyle and this type of racial humor fell out of style, the role of afro'd characters shifted. Due to its unpopularity, the style became associated with the Disco Dan and other nerdy, uncool Butt-Monkey types. In order to avoid Unfortunate Implications and to serve as a joke in itself, afros were increasingly worn by dorky white characters (i.e. the so-called "Jewfro"). In American comedy today, afros tend to be used in one of two ways: to show a character is weird and kooky, or as a quick gag where characters wear outlandish afro wigs to increase the absurdity of a situation.
The trope is very much alive in Japan, which doesn't have the same taboos about racial humor as the US. Such characters are often a Funny Foreigner. As a side note, in Japanese just the word "afro" is rather funny because it just happens to sounds like "afuro", which rather accurately means "overflowing"; hell, this pun is behind the title of one show. Or, it could sound like "a furo" (yes, at least one anime has made that very joke).
See also Modern Minstrelsy, Soul Brotha, Curly Hair Is Ugly. Common specific usages are Compressed Hair, where a massive afro unexpectedly emerges from a small hat, and Hammerspace Hair, where the afro is used to store something unexpected.
When writing examples, be sure to explain the joke. There's nothing inherently funny about afros, and examples should explain how the character's hair contributes to the humor.
Edited by naturalironist on Nov 6th 2020 at 7:51:11 AM
"It's just a show; I should really just relax"
(she/her)
Yeah there’s definitely unfortunate undertones given that Afro textured isn’t any more unusual than any other hair texture. I went over some of the ZC Es on the page but haven’t gone through all of them
But anyways, I think the proposed description rewrite above is very good.
Macron's notes
You can't escape this monster
"One common gag overlaps with Hammerspace Hair, where a massive afro unexpectedly emerges from a small hat."
Isn't this Compressed Hair?
I'm mainly a fan of underrated media.
- Agreed. Hammerspace is for storage.
Maintenance?
The title still hasn't been updated. Hollering again...
I'm back!
You're right; edited to reflect that.
How sweet it is
Updated first post; will see about the thread title.
Update: Done. Sorry about the wait!
Edited by Berrenta on Nov 6th 2020 at 6:58:02 AM
she/her | TRS needs your help! | Contributor of Trope Report
I think the real life section needs to go. All the examples are just people in real life who happen to have afros.
"It's just a show; I should really just relax"
he/him | Image Pickin' regular
I think Real Life examples could qualify if they're a comedian or actor who jokes about their afro, or have an afro and are typecast into comedic roles. But as is, the Real Life section is a mess of ZCEs and image links.
Edited by rjd1922 on Nov 7th 2020 at 2:51:50 PM
Keet cleanup
Yeah I don't think we need to ban real life examples. But none of the ones on the page are currently valid.
I suppose we can do that but we can decide what to do next after we clean Flower In Her Hair's wicks. I just turned it into a disambiguation. 750+ wicks to clean.
Macron's notes