Duplicate tropes discussion thread

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=15186611420A39555800&page=117#comment-2925

The former is a comedy subtrope where someone talking behind another's back immediately does a u-turn when the target happens to enter during the conversation. I'm surprised it has so few examples. Probably the unintuitive name and disparaging description.

Edited by Tabs on Oct 15th 2023 at 10:26:18 AM

Don't they have to know the character is already coming in the room when they make the U-turn, though? That's what the (disparaging) description implies.

ETA: FWIW it's on TNTRS (which I didn't realize).

Edited by Coachpill on Oct 15th 2023 at 2:55:12 PM

What's the difference between Hidden Purpose Test and When You Snatch the Pebble?

The purpose of When You Snatch the Pebble is clear; it's the nature of the test which is odd.

Really? I thought WYSTP was about the test theoretically being easy, which would be the same with the purpose.

Edited by Coachpill on Oct 17th 2023 at 8:49:23 AM

The Artful Dodger and Street Urchin. At least going by Steal This Index the difference is that the Dodger doesn't mind being homeless, but that really feels like a Distinction Without a Difference

Edited by JethroQWalrustitty on Oct 18th 2023 at 12:39:04 PM

I asked earlier in the thread but didn't get a response, so I'll try again.

Flat-Earth Atheist versus Arbitrary Skepticism?

Huh yeah. I was gonna say left one is based on fantasy setting but apparently the other already covers it too.

Fling a Light into the Future vs. "Ray of Hope" Ending?

Arbitrary Skepticism says Flat-Earth Atheist is "when the character insists in not believing anything paranormal despite clear evidence". FEA says AS is when "the character does believe in certain fantastical aspects of their world but rejects others for no adequate reason". So basically, FEA is when a character doesn't believe anything supernatural exists, while AS is when they believe some things but not others (and there's no good reason behind what they believe and what they don't other than what they have personal experience with, and maybe not even then).

According to TropeDistinctions.A To C:

Edited by MorganWick on Oct 21st 2023 at 4:57:13 AM

• Fling a Light into the Future: Sending a message to help future people
• "Ray of Hope" Ending: A hint that the protagonists themselves may still get a happy ending in the future

Rule of Escalating Threat vs Plot Leveling?

Plot Leveling seems to describe the nature of the escalation, Rule of Escalating Threat the problems derived from it. The example lists seem interchangeable though. Candidates for a merge.

Fixed

Edited by eroock on Oct 24th 2023 at 4:19:36 PM

Now which is which? I think you mixed it up a bit.

Achilles' Heel versus Attack Its Weak Point? I remember seeing some examples from the Devil May Cry series that have both tropes basically referring to the same context of "This boss is invulnerable except for some specific weakpoints in their body". This is also one pair of tropes that make it hard for me to consistently crosswick things between the trope pages and the work pages. Should only one of them be listed? Or can they be listed on the same character's folder?

Achilles' Heel is a super trope for a bunch of other tropes, including Attack Its Weak Point. To me that means you should only list Achilles' Heel if there aren't applicable subtropes.

Specifically, Attack Its Weak Point is when the Achilles' Heel is a very obvious/visible target. Usually found in video games so the player knows where to hit to get extra damage.

Just want to ask again (since I didn't get any response the first time) what is the difference between Outcast Refuge and Island of Misfit Everything?

Yet another specific pair involving supertrope and subtrope relationships...

Spiritual Successor and Not-So-Cheap Imitation are YMMV, but they're a subtrope of the Trivia Follow the Leader. Can one of these YMMV items be listed on the same work with an almost similarly-written Follow the Leader item despite belonging in different subpages?

This has led to instances where two items nearly speak about the same thing, albeit worded differently on their subpages. For example:

• The Trivia and YMMV tabs of Salt and Sanctuary both have Spiritual Successor and Follow the Leader to say the game is too similar to Dark Souls, but in 2D.
• The Trivia and YMMV tabs of Overwatch both have Not-So-Cheap Imitation and Follow the Leader to say the game is too similar to Team Fortress 2.

Follow the Leader is meant to describe when a specific work spawned a lot of works influenced by it. (it has a lot of misuse and complaining by tropers using it on the child work instead of the parent work.) Not-So-Cheap Imitation is when audiences believe that something is a cheap copy at first glance, but for various reasons it isn't one. Spiritual Successor is when something isn't a copy, but audiences believe that it carries on the spirit of a previous work while being its own thing. those are all distinct concepts and aren't just "a work is too similar to another work"

Watch the Paint Job: "Expensive, exotic, beloved cars will get damaged — or destroyed."

The Precious, Precious Car: "Something went wrong with someone's most prized automobile."

At first I was considering the idea that The Precious, Precious Car is specifically referring to just the car itself being cool, but then that's literally just "a car that is prized" which kind of borders on being chairs-y that may be softly mangled to overlap with Cool Car.

Based on the trope descriptions though, the difference is actually that one of them is about a car owned by a main character, and the other is not??? I'll let yall guess which trope is supposed to be which.

Is there a more substantial difference I'm missing, or should I put this on the list for a merge?

Edited by number9robotic on Oct 28th 2023 at 12:12:48 PM

When those appear as examples around the wiki, I think Paint Job is used for a character kind of uh... doing a Carrying a Cake sort of thing with a shiny new car (conveying something fragile and valuable) that gets destroyed during plot stuff and the audience is supposed to feel bad, while the Precious Car is a side character/extra's shiny new car that gets incidentally destroyed for comedy, like the Fruit Cart?

Don't think they'll need to be separate when people are confusing them.

You're not the first to wonder what the difference is.

What is the difference between Shoot the Dog and I Did What I Had to Do?

Shoot the Dog is when a person on the side of good does something reckless or disturbing that they're certain that they can't back out of, despite not necessarily being "forced" to do so, while I Did What I Had to Do is when someone uses their honest belief about how bad the worst case scenario could be to choose an option that they aren't explicitly forced into doing.