Needs Help: Not So Different

No, because the action that is the trope (one character tells another one that they "aren't so different.") is not present.

The trope is not the presence of a similarity. The trope is the specific action of one character pointing out the similarity between them to the other one.

edited 29th Nov '14 7:59:31 AM by Madrugada

So you're saying that if two characters are not so different, that's just a specific variant of the Foil (that doesn't need its own trope), and it's only when the characters point it out that it's Not So Different?

And I think everyone has agreed that comparing different characters from different works doesn't count for this in any way, shape or form, so that's not something to worry about.

edited 29th Nov '14 7:21:38 AM by Discar

I always treated the trope as madrugada explains it, explicit remarks and realizations, with some flexibility to include facial and non verbal dialogue, like the Luke Skywalker example I mentioned, which has plenty of body language to make it an objective example IMO.

ETA : It has more than body language, right after, he tells the Emperor that he's a Jedi, like his father before him.

edited 29th Nov '14 7:44:06 AM by TrollBrutal

I'm starting to think a dialogue title (like We're Not So Different) is appropriate here, to stop all the potholing misuse.

Custom-titled to include quotation marks should help too. But what about how Not So Different is being used? Should that stay as a subtrope of Foil, or should it be turned into a disambig while "Foils that aren't so different from each other" gets its own trope as well? Or just go through manually and change those to Foil.

I think we need a wick check to see exactly how the trope is being used, to see which solution would be easier.

Call it Lampshaded Foil to include that "third party" example?

Btw how would Not So Different be related to You Remind Me of X?

'Not So Different' Observation or 'We're Not So Different' Observation could work. I don't think a pure dialogue title like 'We're Not So Different' would be a good idea, though; it probably would be plagued by the same problems that other dialogue titles have.

'Not So Different' Observation solves the problem of a pure dialogue trope title and covers the concept in one fell swoop...I like it.

Weird, I thought this trope was supposed to be about a Stock Phrase. Why is it not in that index?

Shall I add it myself?

The problem with Not So Different Observation is that, as I pointed out earlier, I've seen examples where the person doing the pointing out is a third party, and according to Mads, that's not valid.

but it should be valid...

Again, I'm moving for a wick check. As I see it, this name is used three ways:

• In-universe Stock Phrase (intended trope)
• Audience noting that foils are more similar than they'd like to pretend (might not be worth its own page)
• Audience noting that characters from different series are similar (definitely not a trope)

I'd like to see the spread, so we can get a better idea of how the trope is used, which form of cleanup would be easiest, all that.

edited 8th Dec '14 8:52:13 AM by Discar

yes, only the first counts

And I think third party observation should count as well

I'd like the wick check to answer a question of mine: are the comparisons always done between characters who could be considered as foils?

edited 8th Dec '14 5:01:08 PM by Leaper

Refreshing this topic...

"Not So Different" Remark or Not So Different Observation sounds fine by me.

edited 6th Jan '15 12:49:25 PM by TrollBrutal

The current consensus is stalled, due to awaiting a troper to perform a Wick Check. How to Do a Wick Check.

I'm clocking this. If there hasn't been a wick check and/or it doesn't show a pattern of misuse that can be linked to the name, within three days, the thread will be locked as pointless.

Meaningless? Didn't you yourself suggest a meaningful course of action in the third post? Wouldn't leaving this alone cause this trope to further degenerate into the very path you were emphatically arguing AGAINST all this time?

edited 6th Jan '15 4:35:58 PM by Leaper

if nobody actually DOES any meaningful action then this discussion is pretty much stagnant.

(Although it would've been better if other mods say it instead of Madru...)

Evidently no progress since clocking, and the clock is up now; closing.