Per Ask The Tropers, this thread will be used to reduce the number of old, poorly written drafts on the Trope Launch Pad
. We don't want to discuss on the drafts themselves because that will bump them and mix them with active proposals.
Sandbox for the project: Trope Launch Pad Discard Project
Sandbox for discarded drafts but viable ideas: Trope Idea Salvage Yard
The first sandbox page above contains drafts proposed in the thread that are still pending and drafts that we've decided to leave alone, either with no action or a bump.
The second sandbox page is for awful drafts but viable ideas. According to moderators, badly written but interesting/tropeworthy drafts
should remain on the TLP. Rather than allow low-effort drafts to clog TLP, though, the salvage yard was opened to keep just the ideas behind them, in one place.
On this thread, we will mention which drafts we think are unworkable, add enough bombs, and discard (nuke) them. Discarding requires at least 5 bombs. Among the features of "unworkable" drafts:
- There have been no edits for a very long time, or at all
- The draft is low-effort, containing atrocious spelling and grammar and/or little to no examples, e.g. NEVER saw THAT coming (!)
, Nut-Chuks
- The draft was seemingly created so the sponsor could complain
- The topic is People Sit on Chairs, Too Rare to Trope, a search query created by mistake, etc. and therefore not tropeworthy
- The topic is already sufficiently covered by one or more tropes or is a duplicate of a better-written TLP draft
- The draft is problematic in other ways, such being closely tied to a page that has been historically problematic, e.g. Fetish Fuel, Complete Monster
- There's no discussion currently occurring in the comments to improve the proposal
If we decide to discard a draft after discussion via this thread, whoever does so must provide the discard reason in the comment section of the draft, for transparency's sake. Those looking at the discards section won't think it was nuked for no reason.
Also, check out the sister project, Trope Adoption Drive
, where good drafts put Up for Grabs or abandoned can be grabbed, given a bit more improvement, and launched.
Edited by Tabs on Mar 24th 2022 at 12:02:43 PM
-
Angst Angst Lean Lean
has an awful title, a two-sentence description, and one example, and it was immediately abandoned. -
Badass beyond reason
consists of an overly long quote, two run-on sentences full of Rouge Angles of Satin, and one example. -
Lyrical Misunderstanding
is Mondegreen. -
Name switch
dares to ask the question "What would happen if a TLP draft was posted without a description or with good grammar?" I think we all know the answer. - Nerd job = failure
has awful grammar and only two examples.
-
Nobody edits in TVland
is a repost of this zero-effort draft
(which also needs to be nuked). It has poor grammar (in fact, the only reason it has line breaks is because someone else edited the draft to add them) and it miscategorizes The Simpsons under live-action TV. -
Path of Darkness
might not be an exact replica of Protagonist Journey to Villain, but it's very close. - Pinioned By A Chain of Reasoning
... What even is this? Aside from too specific to trope, of course.
- The Super-Ego
is a prime example of why "dump it back on TLP" is not a valid solution to underperforming tropes that are brought up in TRS. All this effort, and nobody commented on it. If you look at the TRS thread, lu127 even admitted that the thread should have stayed locked instead of producing this draft.
-
Unavoidable Tutorial
is a classic X meets Y draft; this time, it's a mashup of Forced Tutorial and But Thou Must!. -
The Unexplained
is Canon Fodder. I love how the first sentence says "Also called a McGuffin". -
Unscarred Back of Courage
only has one example, likely because it's too rare to trope according to the comments.
Edited by Serac on Jul 11th 2020 at 5:48:36 AM
I'm having a hard time parsing "Pinioned By A Chain Of Reasoning", but it reminds me of Film.I Robot where the antagonist is able to push NS-5 robots into harming humans via a specific interpretation of the First Law of Robotics and saying "My logic is undeniable". The draft is a loss, but I could ask the Trope Idea Sounding Board
if the idea is worth putting in the scrapyard.
Pinioned by a Chain of Reasoning is basically the same idea as Lawful Stupid, except it's applied to a thought process rather than moral alignment.
And I thought the recent draft titles we've been seeing were embarrassingly pretentious...
Edited by HeavyMetalHermitCrab on Jul 11th 2020 at 11:44:40 AM
Sleep Attack Training
is just invoking Wake Up Fighting. My bombs-away bump didn't get it enough bombs, so I'm re-mentioning it in this thread.
This draft
is a duplicate of "Nobody edits in TVland" above, but with even less effort. It too can be nuked.
Edited by Serac on Jul 11th 2020 at 5:49:54 AM
Punch Out Syndrome: Stub with no examples, trying to trope a gameplay or technical limitation rather than a storytelling device.
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Enemy Slashing Run: Single-Stroke Battle.
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Belated Love Confession: Not functionally different from Belated Love Epiphany.
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Hovercar on Wheels: Yet another “trying to make a trope out of a game engine limitation” draft.
![]()
Trial and Error Items: Unidentified Items.
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Untitled Curtsy Trope
Curtain Call + “women curtsy.” Meaningless and the draft is all kinds of terrible.
Irrelevant Context Rebuttal
This is some schmo posting a draft to complain about some shit related to TLP. It’s not even pretending to be a trope at all.
Unexpected Familiarity
Connected All Along.
Karma Houdini Bonus: Fighting Back Is Wrong.
![]()
Convenient Dialogue Line
: Exact Words.
Antagonizing Antagonists
: The OP tried to argue that this was a missing super trope to a bunch of other tropes (Evil Versus Evil, Mêlée à Trois, Enemy Civil War, Teeth-Clenched Teamwork for villains), but they argued for all of one day and then dropped it. I don’t think it ties the above tropes together so much as it just kinda covers the same ground.
Title! Titles! Titl3! Trope Finder inquiry.
![]()
The Pokemon Problem
The examples all point to Deliberate Values Dissonance but the draft points elsewhere, it seems to be covered by several different tropes in one way or another, and is honestly one hell of a complaint magnet. Also, the OP apparently bailed pretty much instantly.
Two Freaks Two Screams: Horrifying the Horror played for laughs, or Reactive Continuous Scream.
![]()
Internet Reaction Sequence: It’s blank, has two ZC Es, and is explicitly a meme rather than a trope.
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Service Style
Meaningless appearance trope.
Amulet of Normality
: I don’t see how this is functionally different from Transformation Trinket.
Edited by HeavyMetalHermitCrab on Jul 16th 2020 at 5:57:25 AM
I don't think Enemy Slashing Run
is Single-Stroke Battle. SSB is, according to the laconic, two fighters, one strike, battle over. Enemy Slashing Run seems to be about a fighter charging through many enemies and hitting them all. It's still an abandoned stub, but maybe Yardable?
Bumping
from a few days ago: Cutscene Collector, ![]()
Hungry Villain, Imperial Emulations![]()
, and Tailor-Made Ad are all at four bombs.
![]()
Edited by MonaNaito on Jul 15th 2020 at 9:17:16 AM
Enforced Gender Roles
has only two examples, and I think Stay in the Kitchen sufficiently covers female examples.
![]()
I've bombed Enemy Slashing Run, but still didn't discard it. But the fact that "Enemy Slashing Run seems to be about a fighter charging through many enemies and hitting them all." isn't already covered Curb-Stomp Battle? Or would you say that this refers to the specific variant of hitting numerous foes without necessarily defeating them?
The draft itself doesn't specify, but anecdotally, if there are instances of this trope where all of the mooks weren't defeated or incapacitated by the one hit they got, I haven't seen them.
That's why I brought up Single Stroke Battle — no, they aren't necessarily identical on the face, but on reflection, Enemy Slashing Run seems to be "Single-Stroke Battle multiplied in rapid succession".
Edited by HeavyMetalHermitCrab on Jul 15th 2020 at 10:34:08 AM
Yeah, that's fair. I didn't feel strongly about the draft either way.
Here, on the other hand, are some drafts that I think can go:
-
Act One Final Song
: Every two-act musical has a "last song in Act One". If this was about Act One Finales that are cliffhangers, or big solos, that could be something, but as it is it's way too broad. -
Comeback Crossfire
: Duplicate of Volleying Insults. -
Consort Battleship
: Abandoned stub with only Zero-Context Examples, probably covered by Behind Every Great Man. -
Missing Out
: Creator planned to discard after realizing it was redundant with Missing the Good Stuff, but never did. -
Monumential Model
: Abandoned stub with no examples. -
New Limitations As The Plot Demands
: Abandoned stub with no examples, covered by Strong as They Need to Be. -
Rich is Evil, Poor is Good
: Abandoned stub with no examples, might be better off as an index. -
Unlucky Stoic
: Abandoned stub with no examples. -
Voice Activated Poison(We already discarded two dupes of YAAD on the previous page of this thread. How many more are out there...waiting?)
: Covered by You Are Already Dead.
Edited by MonaNaito on Jul 19th 2020 at 5:47:44 AM
From my last post, Nerd job = failure
and Pinioned By A Chain of Reasoning
are both sitting at four bombs.
-
Covering up the Obvious
is Extra-Strength Masquerade. -
Creative Battle Strategies
is Outside-the-Box Tactic. -
I just love a good quest
is a one-line wonder with a stock phrase name. -
I want to be a God
is Godhood Seeker. -
Magic Must Defeat Magic
is Takes One to Kill One. -
Non-Serial Reset
is "an adaptation exists outside the continuity of the original" written in a very negative tone and with only two examples. -
Partners Are Only There To Killsteal
is a classic zero-effort draft. -
Runic Magic
is a misplaced Trope Finder query. -
Stardeath with undignity
is yet another genius trying to point out creators who don't have a Ph.D in <science field>; this time <science field> is astronomy. Not to mention I'm sure Artistic License - Astronomy already has it covered. And the complete lack of examples doesn't help either.
And for the last draft in this batch, well, it was predicted by the above post.
-
You're Already Dead
... Oh look, another clone of You Are Already Dead. It tries to be a bit broader than that, but we already have Delayed Reaction and Delayed Causality.
Edited by Serac on Jul 15th 2020 at 10:33:01 AM
This thread
changed my mind about Enforced Gender Roles
being unsalvageable.
Searched through the TLP in preparation for a possible new draft and came across these.
-
One Episode Rule:
Abandoned low-effort draft that feels similar to New Rules as the Plot Demands. - Informed Annoying Patient:
Stub, seems to be Annoying Patient but more specific.
-
Woobie Destroyer Of Worlds Species:
Stub, might be covered by other Woobie tropes. - Discreet Shorthand For Death:
Abandoned, might be covered by He's Dead, Jim.
- Last Inning Stretcher:
Abandoned, probably covered by I Can Still Fight!.
- Skill Expansion:
Only two examples, hasn't been edited since its 2012 proposal, might fall into The Main Characters Do Everything.
- Not really a disease:
Abandoned, only two examples, bad title.
- No curiosity character:
Abandoned, only one example.
- Absurd Save Points:
Abandoned, only two examples, low-effort description.
-
Played For Tragedy:
Abandoned, feels redundant to Played for Drama. - Rule of Social Commentary:
Abandoned with two of the four examples being ZCE, and might be better covered by Author Tract or the Anvil tropes.
-
Losing Your Talent:
Abandoned, low-effort description, might be covered by Career-Ending Injury and Dream-Crushing Handicap. - Creepy Rich Guy:
Abandoned and full of ZCE, I feel like it's covered by another trope but not sure which one.
-
Academic Decathlon:
Misleading title, stub that reads more like a Trope Finder query. -
Ruinous Victory:
Covered by Pyrrhic Victory. It distinguishes "costs" and "consequences" but I think Pyrrhic Victory is flexible enough.
Edited by mightymewtron on Jul 25th 2020 at 7:39:52 AM
I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.-
Abuse Is Okay If Its In Private
only has one example. -
Guys Scold Girls Too, Y'know...
is classic chairs. -
Magical Irrelevance
is "Beneath Notice as an explicit superpower", which feels very redundant to me. It also has a one-sentence description, two examples, and no attempt at formatting. -
MistakenlyHappySong
is Lyrical Dissonance. -
Reptiles Are Green
is covered by Typical Cartoon Animal Colors. -
Roman V's
is covered by The Backwards Я. -
Super Unknown Casting
is "when a superhero movie averts All-Star Cast". -
Villain Escalation
is covered by Superhero Paradox and Evil Power Vacuum. -
Wearing Black Is Cool
is an appearance "trope" with two zero-context examples. -
What Doesn't Kill You...
was never edited and has no examples, but it's been yarded. -
Where There's A Will There's A Murder
is Inheritance Murder.
Edited by Serac on Jul 21st 2020 at 5:06:35 AM
Dropped my bombs. I agree that "What Doesn't Kill You" might be yardable. Die or Fly is about latent superpowers being activated by danger, while this is about gaining superpowers from contact with some substance that should be lethal. A supertrope to I Love Nuclear Power, I guess.
And here's a whole bunch more!
-
Ambiguity Denied
: Abandoned stub, and I'm not sure "this plot point could have been left ambiguous but ultimately wasn't" is a trope. -
Anachronistic Typewriter
: It's just as complete as its duplicate The Writer And The Typewriter
, but the latter has 13 hats. We should merge the drafts. -
Corpse Face
: Called out by a mod as a meaningless appearance trope. -
Diamagnetic Morality
: Abandoned with no examples. -
Gone Wonderfully Right
: Abandoned stub, no fictional examples, chairsy. -
Nice Actor, Mean Fans
: Abandoned with no examples. -
Recruited at Home
: Trespassing to Talk. -
Screw Practicality, I Have Money!
: Conspicuous Consumption. -
Self Aware Forgone Looser
: Determined Defeatist. -
Starting From Scratch
: Bamboo Technology and MacGyvering. -
Throwing While Digging
: Rummage Fail.
Edited by MonaNaito on Jul 20th 2020 at 9:05:34 AM
- Werewolves Are Dogs
is an exampleless fire-and-forget made by Leaper in June
, and it's already covered by the more developed draft The Weredog
. Given the time frame involved, should it just be discarded right off the bat, or should some effort be made to contact Leaper?
- Anachronistic Typewriter
is a red-linked mess from 2012 that has been replaced by the younger draft The Writer and the Typewriter
.
Edited by Miss_Desperado on Jul 20th 2020 at 8:22:20 AM
If not for this anchor I'd be dancing between the stars. At least I can try to write better vampire stories than Twilight.![]()
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I bombed all those drafts. A few considerations:
- Last Inning Stretcher
sounds also similar to Miles to Go Before I Sleep.
-
In the case of Woobie Destroyer of Worlds SpeciesDiscarded
I added the fifth bomb but didn't discard. I personally would be in favour of nuking it though, anyone against it?
Edited by gc10 on Jul 20th 2020 at 12:14:58 PM
Here's another batch, since my previous one was finished so quickly.
-
Childhood Gender Karma Bias
is "Women Are Wiser applied to children". -
Claiming The Kill
is a very broad draft with a very sparse description. -
Dying-Man-O-Vision
is a very specific visual trick used to show that You Are Already Dead. - Even Crazy Has Standards
could be a valid subtrope of Everyone Has Standards, but you'll need more than one example to convince me.
-
Forgot The Or Else
is a very specific version of Underestimating Badassery. In fact, two of the draft's three examples are already on that page. - Infertility Compensation
only has one zero-context example and was immediately abandoned by its sponsor.
-
Just Go For It!
is covered by Kill Enemies to Open. - Let's Ploy Chicken
is very similar to (and could easily be merged into) Wronski Feint, and it only has two examples.
- Lyrical Boss Theme
: Motion to yard, unless we already have it. I'd like to see this draft expanded a bit and have the examples discuss the actual lyrics of the songs instead of just saying "this boss theme has lyrics". There's definitely a trope here, but this draft doesn't look very good.
-
The Outside
is a confusing draft. The first example talks about the justification for Shapeshifter Baggage, and the third example is pure speculation. Its one line description really doesn't help.
Edited by Serac on Jul 23rd 2020 at 3:24:05 AM
Good gravy. Are there any other Squidwards You Are Already Dead clones I should know about?
-
Evasive Action Hero
: We have Dodge Fighter
, which has more examples. -
Even Crimelord Has To Go To Scho0l
: Abandoned stub, no attempt at formatting. -
Jules Vernachronisms
: Abandoned stub, probably covered by Steampunk. -
Laser Guided Chase
: Abandoned stub, only one example. -
Lead By Fire
: Abandoned one-line wonder. Pyro Protagonist
covers the same territory. -
Like Canon Unless Noted
: Abandoned with no examples...or was this just supposed to define the term? -
One of Our Kind
: Abandoned stub with no examples. -
Played For Awesome
: Abandoned with no examples. -
Politicaly-incorrect ally
: Abandoned one-line wonder with no examples, covered by Noble Bigot. -
Public Domain Horror
: Literary Mash-Ups. -
Standard Fantasy Arsenal
: Was going to be added to Standard Fantasy Setting rather than getting its own page, but no one ever did it. -
Titled After Past Event
It's supposed to be "Work of fiction set after the in-universe event that the work is titled after". The examples, on the other hand, are all over the place: works named after old buildings, places visited by time-traveling characters, "well it's this trope from the audience's perspective..." -
Universe Ensemble Index
: Abandoned stub, definitely not an index.
And finally, some Yardables:
-
Alibi Worse Than CrimeYarded.
: I thought we had this, but if we don't, it should go to the Yard. There are plenty of examples. - Bait-And-Switch Summons
: Definitely a thing, there are a few examples and I can think of one more.
Edited by MonaNaito on Jul 31st 2020 at 5:31:46 AM
I have discarded "Roman Vs" and bombed the previous drafts. Regarding Evasive Action Hero, Dodge Fighter has more examples, but the former has more description, so we should merge them together.
And I want to bring some drafts as well:
-
6th Season Alternate: Seems to be too specific, and may already be covered by Later-Installment Weirdness.
-
Death by Polotline: Single-line draft, not even enough to confirm if this idea is already covered. No examples, and as written it may be kind of complainy.
-
The Small-Big Guy: This has been abandoned, all examples have zero-context, and The Big Guy already says that size is not a factor to count, and this seems already covered by various other tropes, included, but not limited, to Pint-Sized Powerhouse and Large Runt.
-
Wanted Stars: Already covered by Wanted Meter, as the OP admits.
-
World of Genre Savvy: Zero-effort draft with no examples, and I'm not sure there can be any work where all the characters are genrey savvy, and not being a no fourth wall work.
- Yank into Melee Range
: A comment pointed out that this might be a worthy split from You Will Not Evade Me, but that it should go through TRS before, and this draft has been abandoned.
Edited by ElBuenCuate on Aug 25th 2020 at 12:35:13 PM

Honestly, the main reason to discard it at this point instead of just waiting and (possibly) reviving the same draft later is the 15 bombs.
Suddenly I'm... still rotating Fallen London in my mind even though I've stopped actively playing it.