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Laconic Description Improvement

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For a list of bad laconics, see Sandbox.Pages Needing Better Laconics.

For generally accepted guidelines for laconics, see Sandbox.Laconic Wiki Template.


Today I found out an interesting fact from troper Ironeye:

Don't ever make the mistake of using the Laconic version as the canonical trope meaning—the laconics are often written by people who don't actually understand the drop. In this case, the laconic only corresponds to one possible cause of Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy.

The Laconic Description for DIAA states as follows:

The thing is, these descriptions are supposed to make it easier to understand what the page is about. If they can't be accurate as well as short and sweet, then there's a problem.

So for starters, what would be a better description for DIAA?

Edited by MacronNotes on Jan 29th 2023 at 6:23:45 AM

petersohn from Earth, Solar System (Long Runner) Relationship Status: Hiding
Amonimus the "Retromancer" from <<|Wiki Talk|>> (Sergeant) Relationship Status: In another castle
the "Retromancer"
#2753: Jan 18th 2024 at 7:29:04 AM

The Un-Twist's laconic was changed to imply it's deliberate, but it wouldn't be YMMV if it was?

Edited by Amonimus on Jan 18th 2024 at 2:41:56 PM

TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
Amonimus the "Retromancer" from <<|Wiki Talk|>> (Sergeant) Relationship Status: In another castle
the "Retromancer"
#2754: Jan 21st 2024 at 8:24:20 AM

Laconic.Bakuman has two laconics, which one to keep?

TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
MurlocAggroB from the second-most ridiculous province of Canada Since: May, 2015
#2755: Jan 21st 2024 at 8:49:33 AM

[up] The top one's more illustrative. If it's a contest between being cute and being accurate, accurate always wins.

Edited by MurlocAggroB on Jan 21st 2024 at 10:49:56 AM

regulation pigeon
Galileo26 Ideologically Blurred Enigma from Where the Mammoths Roam (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: Not caught up in your love affair
Ideologically Blurred Enigma
#2756: Jan 22nd 2024 at 9:14:00 AM

Laconic.Close Enough is just a comparison to Regular Show, which means little without any knowledge of that show. I have a potential replacement drafted, but I need a second opinion:

A young 30-something couple, their six-year-old daughter, and their friends/housemates manage the daily challenges of modern life in Los Angeles… which tend to grow out of control in weird ways.

It really, really, really could happen.
MurlocAggroB from the second-most ridiculous province of Canada Since: May, 2015
Galileo26 Ideologically Blurred Enigma from Where the Mammoths Roam (Experienced, Not Yet Jaded) Relationship Status: Not caught up in your love affair
Ideologically Blurred Enigma
#2758: Jan 22nd 2024 at 10:03:25 AM

Replaced original Close Enough laconic with my revision, citing thread in edit reason.

It really, really, really could happen.
Bullman Enid Sinclair Since: Jun, 2018 Relationship Status: Longing for my OTP
Enid Sinclair
#2759: Jan 22nd 2024 at 9:48:26 PM

I find the current Laconic.Riordanverse to be very bashy:

  • Harry Potter and the blatant ripoff!

I would like this instead:

  • Multiple ancient mythological pantheons exist and send children to fight evil.

Fan-Preferred Couple cleanup thread
MurlocAggroB from the second-most ridiculous province of Canada Since: May, 2015
WetFlannels Classy, Refined, Unstable from Nearby, on a cosmological scale. Since: Oct, 2021 Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Classy, Refined, Unstable
#2762: Jan 23rd 2024 at 9:44:19 AM

[up]

What's wrong D-16? Rise up!
Bullman Enid Sinclair Since: Jun, 2018 Relationship Status: Longing for my OTP
MurlocAggroB from the second-most ridiculous province of Canada Since: May, 2015
#2764: Jan 23rd 2024 at 12:51:45 PM

I noticed that the page was unusually new for a laconic that poor, so I went through the history of the troper who added it (Lynda4ever). It turns out they've been making a lot of extremely low-quality laconics:

Laconic.Airwolf

  • A show that ultimately wasn't as good as its' theme music!

Laconic.Airwolf S 1 E 1 Shadow Of The Hawke

  • No use running Moffat, DEATH is coming for you!"

Laconic.Tombstone

  • Call the police, Val Kilmer just stole this movie!

Laconic.Maniac Cop 3 Badge Of Silence

Bride of the Maniac Cop!

Laconic.Angel S 04 E 11 Soulless

  • Angel does 'Silence of the Lambs'.

Laconic.Angel S 04 E 08 Habeas Corpses

  • Saving Private Connor!

Laconic.The Last Boy Scout

  • The film where Bruce Willis sticks it to the bad guys...AND THEN SOME!

  • or The story of a detective who dances a jig.

Laconic.Wolfen

  • The movie which says it's okay for giant supernatural wolves to eat the homeless because that's nature's way?

Laconic.Halloween The Curse Of Michael Myers

  • The one that explains everything...sort of.

Laconic.Prince Of Darkness

Proof that the ultimate evil can be defeated with a hard shove!.


Additionally, they've also been adding second laconics to existing pages (not under the existing laconic unless the page already had more than one, underneath the main page redirect for some reason), so I already deleted these.

Laconic.Gravity

One woman's quest to singlehandedly destroy the space programme!

Laconic.Las Vegas

The show that advertised the city more than all the neon in the world.

Laconic.The Great Gatsby

The story of a man who died for his dream yet the dream proved unworthy of him.

Laconic.Star Trek II The Wrath Of Khan

or "If you thought the first movie lacked action...here it comes!"

Laconic.Othello

or

The story of a man who killed his wife over a handkerchief.

Laconic.Alien

The story of a woman who truly loved her ginger tomcat.


That's just going back to January 1st. They have 19 pages of edits, and I don't want to go through them all right now. Obviously all of those are not worth keeping as they are, but any help writing new ones before I go ahead and cutlist the rest?

regulation pigeon
Amonimus the "Retromancer" from <<|Wiki Talk|>> (Sergeant) Relationship Status: In another castle
WarJay77 It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000) from My Writing Cave (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
It's NaNo, Bay-beeee! (8,356/50,000)
#2766: Jan 23rd 2024 at 12:56:04 PM

This troper has a backlog of problem edits, if ATT is any indication. I agree these are pretty bad.

Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper Wall
MurlocAggroB from the second-most ridiculous province of Canada Since: May, 2015
#2767: Jan 23rd 2024 at 12:59:05 PM

[up][up] I agree with that revert as well. I was gonna bring up how bad Alien's laconic was, but I wanted to stay on topic.

regulation pigeon
jandn2014 SMILE! from somewhere in Connecticut Since: Aug, 2017 Relationship Status: Hiding
SMILE!
#2768: Jan 23rd 2024 at 2:06:29 PM

Remove all the additional laconics, and cutlist the pages they've created if no one can write up anything better (as I'm not familiar with any of the works myself).

Edited by jandn2014 on Jan 23rd 2024 at 5:06:43 AM

Malady (X-Troper)
#2769: Jan 24th 2024 at 3:50:34 PM

Anyone know why the Film laconic was deleted? Since the Video Game's moving soon.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/article_history.php?article=Laconic.Zookeeper

...

Seems like it was moved to Zookeeper 2011.

Edited by Malady on Jan 24th 2024 at 4:47:34 AM

Disambig Needed: Help with those issues! tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13324299140A37493800&page=24#comment-576
Diesel Konstruktor Since: Jun, 2013 Relationship Status: Abstaining
jandn2014 SMILE! from somewhere in Connecticut Since: Aug, 2017 Relationship Status: Hiding
Spellbrand Since: May, 2023
#2772: Jan 28th 2024 at 6:29:06 AM

Here are my suggestions for Lycoris Recoil:

and Lyrical Nanoha:

I also made Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops and every main Lyrical Nanoha works laconic

Edited by Spellbrand on Jan 28th 2024 at 10:31:26 PM

Coachpill Taxidermy (he/him) from Gen Z Since: Aug, 2022 Relationship Status: Baby don't hurt me!
UchuuFlamenco Since: Jul, 2017
#2774: Jan 28th 2024 at 3:16:11 PM

Joisey's Laconic reads:

America's other Butt-Monkey.

It doesn't tell you what the trope is about - Hell, if you've never heard the word "Joisey" before there's no way to know from the Laconic that the trope is New Jersey. It also feels weird to randomly mention Cleveland when we don't have an equivalent trope for Cleveland.

Thoughts?

CanuckMcDuck1 PEPSIMAN from Japan Since: Sep, 2023 Relationship Status: You cannot grasp the true form
PEPSIMAN
#2775: Jan 28th 2024 at 4:50:56 PM

[up]You’re right, there could be a better laconic page that doesn’t pothole to a different city.

Passengers (2016)’s laconic page is a reference to a The Fairly OddParents! episode called "Just the Two of Us!"

I’m new to long-term forums and this may have been discussed beforehand, but while I think in context the laconic works for the film’s plot, it relies on a completely different piece of media to explain itself. For a fairly high-profile film, I feel like it could have a better explanation.

Edited by CanuckMcDuck1 on Jan 28th 2024 at 6:52:13 AM

Do not mess with creatures which you do not understand.

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