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
Anyway, here's some new bomb fodder:
-
Anti-Moe
is an abandoned stub with only one example. -
Populous Minority
has only one on-draft example and is a dupe of Novelty Decay. - Cultural Assimilation Panic
is The Whitest Black Guy.
-
Forced Backspace
is Verbal Backspace. -
Getting Their Groove Back
is a poorly formatted and abandoned draft that might already be covered. -
Bullying Is A Special Kind Of Evil
was discussed being turned into "Anti Bullying Episode", but the discussion died immediately. As is, it's just, "Bullies are jerks, And That's Terrible". - Conversing In Subtitles
: We Have This... I Swear..., even if we don't though, it's a poorly formatted and abandoned draft.
- I Can't Tell You Over The Phone
might be a good idea, but is an underdeveloped draft with only one example and a bad title.
- Lady Bodyguard
is either covered by Bodyguard Babes, or is a ZCE-magnet; just look at the on-draft "examples".
-
Eurojou
is the Same But More Specific of The Ojou. - Vriska's Gun
: Trope Namer Syndrome, no examples, and immediate abandonment.
- Less Power, More Venting
: A complaining and rather-flamebaity "Trope" with no examples. If there's a nugget of something genuine here, it's best yarded.
- Hates Being Told To Calm Down
: No examples, instantly abandoned, and doesn't seem very tropeworthy.
Edited by WarJay77 on Jul 25th 2020 at 12:10:29 PM
Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper WallI meant abandoned. IDK why I typed "discarded" because it's...not.
Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper Wall"Less Power, More Venting" is just a crappy way of saying "Punching Upwards" or "Punching Up." (As opposed to "Punching Down", which is when jokes target people of lower social status.)
Granted, that concept is much broader than a so-called Double Standard Abuse trope (and likely too broad to be more than a definition-only trope), but that's the only really genuine part of that trope.
Homing Bird of Prey: Three ZC Es and nothing else.
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White Guy and Ethnic Girl: This is covered by Token Minority and is awfully similar to Mighty Whitey and Mellow Yellow. And holy god I don’t even want to try and unpack some of the remarks made in that draft…
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Cross Kick Trying to trope a martial arts move that has no meaning to it.
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Adventuring Party Dress: Abandoned, never edited, all the examples (save one) are from the same series, half the examples don’t even fit the trope, and so on. Possibly Yard fodder but this draft is quite the crap. (I guess you could argue that the dress signals that one character is a love interest, but in all these cases I’m familiar with, the love-interest status is well established before the dress appears).
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Semi Autobiographical Novel Abandoned stub, no different from Life Embellished save being non-webcomics. Honestly the latter should probably be broadened rather than this trope be put through…
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Win by refusing to fight: Sheathe Your Sword.
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Cannot Spell Names
Zero-effort abandoned stub with no sorting of examples.
Viral Humanoid: Viral Transformation.
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The Human Dolphin: Super Not-Drowning Skills or Olympic Swimmer.
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Last Minute Worry
Abandoned stub with one example, questionable tropeworthiness.
Valiant Hero list: Not a trope and doesn’t appear to be an existing work. Seems to be an attempt to use TLP to publish whole-cloth original work.
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Fridge Tearjerker: Zero effort abandoned draft, no examples.
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Edited by HeavyMetalHermitCrab on Aug 8th 2020 at 3:13:15 AM
Is there any difference between Skeptical Judge
and Penultimate Outburst?
We kinda need cleanup on that last post. Lots and lots of 4-bombers. :P
Anyway:
Villains Drive Mercedes-Benz Unreadable description and all examples are ZC Es, although, grated, there are a bunch of them. Its only real argument is that “Nazis drove Mercedes-Benz cars so that inherently makes M-Bs a Sinister Car,” which is a stretch. I think the more solid case is that most of these villains are rich, and Mercedes-Benz is known as a swanky, rich-people car. We can Yard it if someone wants to, but I don’t think this draft is worth saving as is.
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Last Sunday B.C. Covered by 20 Minutes into the Past and Present-Day Past. Also, the title makes no goddamn sense.
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Tutorial Island what the hell is this
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Let The Hate Flow Through You Stock phrase title, no description at all, seems like a very specific form of Manipulative Bastard.
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Hate Backlash Poorly defined and has zero fictional examples. I’d honestly be a bit surprised if this wasn’t covered by SOMETHING, but even if we Yard it, it would have to be In-Universe Only because as of now it’s basically troping Real Life.
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The Gaston Trope Namer Syndrome, not meaningfully different from Narcissist.
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Men Wear Kilts In The Future This is Man in a Kilt…but from the FUTURE! Most of the examples are ZC Es and I don’t think it’s really worth splitting, personally. If we have something on Future Fashion it could be a footnote there.
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This Guy Talks Too Much Not a blank, but may as well be. Also, You Talk Too Much!.
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Crowdfunding “Crowdfunding exists, here’s a list of crowdfunded works.” I’m not altogether sure we need this because it’s going to be monstrously long, and does anyone ‘’really’’ care at this point? We don’t have tropes/trivia entries for other methods of financing works. (Waits to the proven wrong on that.)
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Edited by HeavyMetalHermitCrab on Aug 8th 2020 at 3:13:21 AM
- Sounds like Starter Mon?
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Dropped my bombs.
Outstanding items from my last post two weeks ago:
-
Evasive Action Hero
is at 4 bombs and should be merged with Dodge Fighter
. -
Laser Guided Chase
is at 4 bombs. -
Like Canon Unless Noted
is at 3 bombs.
Edited by MonaNaito on Jul 31st 2020 at 5:32:29 AM
I agree you can Yard it, especially if you can think of specific examples. The original draft went 7 years with none.
-
Arm Check
: Abandoned stub with only Zero-Context Examples, possibly covered by Limb-Sensation Fascination. -
Confront The Murderer
: Covered by Exposition Victim (an underused trope which, according to the comments, was supposed to go to TRS, but apparently never did.) -
God in the Dock
: Abandoned with no examples. -
Ground WaveExamples have been ported to Ground Wave.
: The existing trope Ground Wave, which someone copied into TLP because it was underused. -
Historical Sex Life UpgradeYarded.
: This draft was originally about Queen Elizabeth being portrayed as sexually active. Some people suggested that it could be expanded to "when a historical figure is portrayed as having more of a sex life than in real life", but the stub description and Zero-Context Examples were never changed to reflect this. I say discard and Yard. -
Implausibly Successful Counterattack
: Abandoned with two examples, possibly covered by Back from the Brink. -
Overly-Contextual Ability
: Abandoned with no examples, covered by Useless Useful Spell. -
The Plot Must Go OnYarded.
: I get the gist of this ("character steers conversation back to the plot after a digression") but right now it's written as a Stock Phrase with only Zero-Context Examples. Yardable? -
Prank ScareYarded.
Abandoned stub with no examples, but I can think of three or four off the top of my head. Discard and Yard. -
Rosebud Ending
: The Ending Changes Everything. -
Screen Shatter Transition
: Abandoned with no examples. -
Super With A Badge
: Currently indistinct from Super Cop. I guess we could theoretically have a separate page for "superheroes who work day jobs in law enforcement", as opposed to "law enforcement intentionally makes use of people with superpowers"? -
Time-Displaced Clones
: Abandoned, no description, and covered by existing tropes (as summarized in the comments).
Edited by MonaNaito on Aug 16th 2020 at 7:55:49 AM
My previous post
still has a few drafts that are almost ready to be discarded.
-
Amoral Rich Association
is a zero-effort draft with a bunch of notes and tags informing everyone of its zero-effort status. Motion to throw more tags and editorial notes at it until it's fixed. -
Contrary Trope Genesis
is covered by Unbuilt Trope. - A Night Out on the Town
... I won't call it zero-effort, as it does have five examples, but none of them have context, so I'll call it very low effort. But it could be yarded.
-
Post alteration stagnation
has no examples and was almost immediately abandoned. -
Self Deprecating Promotional Quote
has a one sentence description and only two examples with any context. -
Sexy Asexual
, in addition to being zero-effort, looks like a magnet for one-handed troping. -
Significant Colored Text
is Rainbow Speak. -
Super Smart, Super Violent
is a zero-effort draft. -
Vague Unachieved Goals
only has one example and looks like it's trying to make a trope out of a specific scene from a comic. -
Welcome back to Tristram!
has an awful name and only two examples (one of which is entirely spoilered). Also, on what planet is Borderlands 2 considered to be an RPG and not a first-person shooter? -
World of Fuse
is Crossover Alternate Universe.
Edited by Serac on Aug 17th 2020 at 11:30:50 AM
-Cracks knuckles-
Time to clear out some of the backlog.
Edit: Fun fact, we have 420 pages on the TLP now.
Edited by WarJay77 on Aug 6th 2020 at 6:14:58 AM
Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper WallI'm pretty sure More Able In Alternative World
is a duplicate of Like a Duck Takes to Water, not a sub-trope like it claims to be.
The latest batch of turds...
Best Sidequest Ever Covered by Best Level Ever, abandoned, no examples, crap.
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Cannonball! Stock phrase one-line wonder.
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Cold What Cold Exposed to the Elements.
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Summer of Punk Badly written, extreme Trope Namer Syndrome, abandoned for 9 years, most of the proposed examples are aversions or invocations so are there really enough examples to support a page?
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Inexplicable Pholyhedronatomy
Asides the fact that it's abandoned and crappy, it doesn't seem worth splitting off from Living Polyhedron. The only real difference is "entire creature" vs. "body part". We can Yard it but I don't really think it necessary. Also, it may as well be called "Shape-Shaped Head" and be an appearance trope.
Never Shared a Scene: Troping a negative, not tropeworthy.
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THe Wanderer Shoutout A very specific Shout-Out that really just translates to "any picture with one person's back to the camera." Not tropeworthy. And half the examples don't fit!
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Other Opposite
One-line wonder that seems awfully similar to Now Do It Again, Backwards.
A Life In One Episode
The idea may work if someone actually put in the effort (if we don't have it already) but this draft ain't the one. Yard, perhaps?
Tea Lady As written, it's "British comedies used to have ladies serving tea" and nothing much beyond that — no meaning, no narrative role or even specific definitions — and it hasn't gone anywhere despite two years of effort. I think it's time to call it.
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No Hat No Mask: Exposed to the Elements.
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Always Open Side Window: Same person as the above draft, but even more nonsensical. Also, stub with no usable examples.
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Divorce Mode: "Tough co-op games cause real-life relationship drama. Would have to be In-Universe Only to work but that's noe what's going on here. Also, abandoned and never edited, no on-draft examples, most examples are ZCE or "this co-op game is tough".
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Edited by HeavyMetalHermitCrab on Aug 15th 2020 at 10:23:47 AM
... Huh. After making my one comment on it all those years ago, I had thought Misbegotten Multiplayer Mode was the final, polished and launched version of Divorce Mode, but no, that page predates the draft.
Suddenly I'm... still rotating Fallen London in my mind even though I've stopped actively playing it.I would like to adopt the "Cannonball" draft please, but it would take me until September to grab that...
Fair point. Though I did once launched Decade-Themed Filter from a discarded draft.
ᜇᜎᜈ᜔ᜇᜈ᜔|I DO COMMISSIONS|ᜇᜎᜈ᜔ᜇᜈ᜔Bombjour, mes amis!
Town and Gown: The general idea is covered by Slobs vs. Snobs and likely others; most of the examples are nothing more than "character is insulted for being a 'townie'."
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Reaction Button I don't know if this is supposed to be a supertrope to Berserk Button, Cuteness Proximity, and others...but it's pretty terrible and was put up for grabs within minutes of being posted. No responses, either.
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Blow them away with the heavy firepower Deus ex Machina + More Dakka. We don't need this and the draft is terrible.
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Too Early For Glasses No usable examples, zero effort stub, and "character just woke up and didn't feel like putting in contacts first thing in the morning" is chairs all the way.
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Get up and Go Prunes Stub with no examples. Also, it's not exactly a secret that prunes really do get your bowels moving, so this isn't truly any different from "character takes a laxative for whatever reason."
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Blank Sign Syndrome 1% potential trope (though it's more of a factoid than a trope), 99% complaining. Potential shit magnet.
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Believe the impossible, not the improbable: This is already covered in Analysis.Speculative Fiction, and it's just a corrolary to Willing Suspension of Disbelief. It's also written in first person and has no examples.
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Mottos and Credoes and Slogans Oh My Not a draft, just a wish that someone would make a draft. That theoretical draft isn't tropeworthy, either.
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Why Aren't You A Stereotype? Abandoned stub, one example, likely covered by something or other.
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Rage What Rage No examples at all, seems to be covered at least partly by several other tropes, Same But More Specific of Out-of-Character Moment.
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Odd Song Out "A song on the soundtrack album has no direct connection to the movie and/or is not even in the movie". Most examples seem like they'd fall under Wasted Song, Cut Song, or chairs (a lot of songs on movie soundtracks are background noise at best).
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Does Not Trust Cops: Cop Hater, or Properly Paranoid applied to cops. Either way, it's covered.
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Angels wings change after they fall: One-line wonder that's covered by Good Wings, Evil Wings.
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All super heroes are invulnerable: Covered by Made of Iron, Plot Armor, and/or Invincible Hero.
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Tears of Pride: This is covered by both Tears of Joy and/or Manly Tears, despite its claims of being a sister trope.
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Conflict Induced Audience Exhaustion: Feel free to argue otherwise, but this looks a lot like a hodgepodge of Ending Fatigue, Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy, Moving the Goalposts, Yank the Dog's Chain, and Here We Go Again!. There also aren't any proper examples.
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Edited by HeavyMetalHermitCrab on Aug 17th 2020 at 8:47:56 AM
Dropped my bombs. I do think "Town and Gown conflict" is a distinct enough entity in fiction to be worth Yarding once that draft is discarded.
-
Amp Factor Flash: Abandoned stub draft with a Non-Indicative Name, but I think the concept - we watch a character formulating a plan via quick shots highlighting all the items to be used in said plan - might be Yardable?
-
Big Babies
: Abandoned, unformatted works page. -
Cast Of Assholes
: World of Jerkass. -
Construction Punk
: Abandoned one-line wonder. -
Dragged From Heaven
: Abandoned stub, both examples already listed on Unwanted Revival. -
Lake House
: Abandoned stub with no examples. -
Main Theme Mix
: Abandoned stub, covered by existing tropes as discussed in the comments. -
Psychic Teamwork
: Abandoned with no examples, very similar to Badass Minds Think Alike. -
Queue of Credulity
: Misplaced Trope Finder query. -
Religious don't mean Holy
: Abandoned stub with no examples. -
Sign On, Sign Off
: Covered by the earlier draft Startup/Closedown
. -
Speak About The Devil
: Inadvertent Entrance Cue. -
Trend Breaker
: Abandoned one-line wonder with no examples.
Edited by MonaNaito on Aug 17th 2020 at 7:13:39 AM

Whew, nuked a bunch of stuff and bombed the rest.
Working on: Author Appeal | Sandbox | Troper Wall