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
Okay, if it's plot relevance that matters, then use "Appearance As Device" or the like. "Meaningful" is too vague. Covering every type of meaning that every type of appearance trait could convey is too broad even for a supertrope—it would just be the entire Personal Appearance Tropes index. (Which already has like two dozen sub-indexes.) That's not useful.
Just as long as the title doesn't include the word "Meaningful." (Or "Significant." Same problem.) ![]()
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edited 14th Jan '13 4:24:55 PM by troacctid
Yeah, it needs to be something like Plot Device Appearance. Since that seems to be the biggest thing that these things end up being. It's far more often that a appearance trait ends up only being significant in universe because it means something to the plot.
Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. DickTo reiterate my position, I do not feel Mismatched Eyes needs a rename, just intensive curating. But I am willing to vote for Mismatched Eyes Matter as a backup choice.
It's already suffering massive misuse. This is the fourth time it's had a formal clean up under this name. It keeps ending up having to be cleaned and no matter how many times it gets cleaned and the definition tweaked, it keeps getting misused. There's a point where we have to try changing the name to something descriptive.
Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. DickSome blasted rogue launcher launched Lightbulbs For A Face full of ZCE. Can we get some help here?
"If you aren't him, then you apparently got your brain from the same discount retailer, so..." - FighteerQuick question: Can we add Fairy Sexy to the list of tropes that have issues that need fixing? "A pixie that's young, female and attractive," sounds like every fairy and the 'attractive' part is open to audience interpretation.
We can decide on that once we actually get to that point on the list... but as it is, it is very much in the style of hot X, narrowly avoiding being completely silly by managing to not be a snowclone (gasp!).
So to elaborate on Pinocchio it would say that the blue fairy is blonde and wears a sparkly blue dress and that's good enough? Almost all fairies are 'young, female and attractive' so this could end up being a very long list.
- The blue fairy from Pinocchio is a slender fair-skinned blonde that wears an elegant glittery blue dress and is crushed on by Jiminy Cricket.
Something like that. We're not dealing with an Omnipresent Trope so length isn't an issue.
Two things:
- There is now a YKTTW for Colour-Coded Emotions here
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- Is Green Eyes more like Blue Eyes or like Significant Green-Eyed Redhead? I.e something completely natural or a pattern more common in fiction than reality?
Eh, I was thinking of something like this
There are some proper examples of Mismatched Eyes entered already. Perhaps foremost of these are the cubi from Amber Panyko Williams' Dan And Mab's Furry Adventures web comic. Possibly one panel from this series as the Trope Image?
Heterochromatic eyes are an identifying trait of clan Quoar; curiously, Abel Rewanz also has Mismatched Eyes (blue / green) though he is of clan Siar. Clan affiliation strongly influences a character's powers, strengths and weaknesses in the DMFA universe.
It shouldn't need to be said, but perhaps adjust the Trope Title to "Meaningful Mismatched Eyes?"
We also proposed Mismatched Eyes Matter, also because it's easier to rename to.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Horribly clunky, sounds like some sort of heterochromic advocacy slogan.
I propose Metaphorical Mismatched Eyes.
ERROR: The current state of the world is unacceptable. Save anyway? YES/NOI'd prefer Meaningfully Mismatched Eyes because Mismatched Eyes Matter just sounds so clunky and inelegant to me.
I must be cruel, but to be kind That bad may begin, and worse be left behindOn the contrary, under the present definition, the idea that the eyes are different colours because it is symbolic of something about the character is integral to the trope.
ERROR: The current state of the world is unacceptable. Save anyway? YES/NOHonestly, I'd like to see Mismatched Eyes remain intact. However, it's been brought to these discussion and repair boards because characters whose unlike eyes have no bearing on the plot or their universe's physics are being added to it.
The only reason that I favor "Meaningful ..." or "... Matter" is to give that stipulation from the get-go, because posters seemingly aren't reading the trope parameters.
This is a Trope because it's an indicator about the character: he's a hybrid, or a necromancer, or schizo, or marked as an outcast. Something other than the creator merely decorating the character.
...which is why we should be splitting this, not renaming it. There are patterns to the meaning associated with mismatched eyes, and the other examples fall under "[Unusual Trait] is significant" and have nothing to do with eyes or mis-matched colors. We've got some serious lumping going on, and not the good kind: we're lumping based on superficial aspects, not the underlying meaning.
We have (with examples):
- Mismatched eyes indicating duality, whether literal or symbolic (Iceheart from the Star Wars Expanded Universe, Yuna from FFX, Tuskiko from Order Of The Stick, Wikus in District 9, Tokidoki from Amatsuki, the Count from Gankutsuou, Nora in Nora)
- Mismatched eyes indicating a chaotic personality or madness (Delerium from Sandman, 6 in 9, Vetti from Glass Fleet, Teatime from Discworld)
- [Unusual Trait] is unsettling (the film version of Wormtongue from The Lord Of The Rings, Teatime again, Dr Betruger from Doom 3, Euron Greyjoy from A Song Of Ice And Fire)
- Mismatched eyes hinting that one eye is special, such as being fake or special (Artemis from Artemis Fowl, Teatime again, Sven from Black Cat, Spike from Cowboy Bebop, Yakumo from Psychic Detective Yakumo, Dartz and Pegasus from Yu Gi Oh)
- [Unusual trait] indicating magical aptitude or special nature—that is, a special nature not involving the duality meaning specific to mismatched eyes (enchanters from Enchanter, the mother and child from 28 Weeks Later, the coed in Xmen First Class, Shiera Seastar in A Song Of Ice And Fire, Morgan from I am Morgan Le Fay)
- [Shared unusual trait] indicates connection (Gaeriel and Malinza Captison from the Star Wars Expanded Universe, Jason and his illusions in X-2, the girl and the vet in Redwood Curtain)
Though I didn't have time to check every example, all the other ones either had insufficient context or were non-significant features. We should split accordingly, just like with did for the other eye colors.
edited 19th Jan '13 11:22:24 PM by Ironeye
I'm bad, and that's good. I will never be good, and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me.

^ Right, symbolic appearence stuff would likely be covered by the specific tropes, like blue eyes symbolizing innocence etc, and then the meaningful appearence trope would be for stuff like 'we know this guy is actually the secret prince because he has sky blue eyes exactly the shade the dead queen had.'
I am totally for that.