Whams cleanup (Wham Line, Wham Episode, Wham Shot)

First-Episode Twist

I don’t think WhamEpisode.Gravity Falls has enough examples to warrant a page.

Are they legitimate examples? I don't know the work, but most of the come across as plot reveals and twists that were a long time in the making. If that's the case, they wouldn't be Wham examples anyway. Only the first bullet point comes across as something that seems to change the nature of the story to date, but the third bullet point makes it sound like what the plot was building towards, which wouldn't be a Wham situation.

It could be that they're just poorly worded to be written as plot reveals instead of how they changed the story after that point. Not knowing the work, I can't tell.

As to the amount. I personally wouldn't create a page for just five examples, but I've seen other people do it. I'm never sure what the rule of thumb is.

It used to have more examples but it was cleaned up a while ago.

Speaking of which... you really should take a look at Adventure Time's page. I'm pretty sure a lot of the entries aren't actual whammies.

From Guppy Love:

• Wham Line: Delivered by both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash in Chapter 6.
  Fluttershy: Applejack…
  Rainbow Dash: Rarity can’t replace your parents.

It is a ZCE. Plus, I remember that AJ was still clinging to Rarity after that.

ZCE and, from the looks of it, not a Wham.

WhamEpisode.The Order Of The Stick has the same problem as other OOTS pages: gushing about every little reveal as if it was the most shocking twist ever penned. There are definitely some legitimate examples, but probably about half the current number.

I know the work quite well, so I can help with trimming the page, but I just wanted to ask for others' opinions before going ahead.

Can I remove the Guppy one?

7x

Yeah, I was the one who trimmed the Gravity Falls wham page. I realize that by the time I was done it had already been condensed down to five examples, which I think is too short to warrant its own page. I'm just unfamiliar with the page cutting process.

We discussed some of those examples and tried to stick to only keeping the most impactful episodes. I personally think we did a good job shortening it, but perhaps some of the remaining examples may be questionable. Ironically, the third and fifth bullet points were the ones I felt most confident about keeping, since those episodes radically changed the direction of the show, and had reveals that were hinted at but not outright known to the audience. I'm mostly working with the definition of "these episodes had reveals that radically changed the direction of the work, the characters, and their perceptions of and relations with each other; and their ramifications were relatively permanent and felt for many episodes down the line". The twists were, per Word of God, actually planned from the get-go (the show has a lot of foreshadowing stretching even between the seasons).

If it's a ZCE, couldn't it be commented out? I'm unfamiliar with the work so unfortunately I can't comment on that example.

Edited by PacificGreen on Jun 12th 2021 at 9:22:06 AM

I have thought about it, and I am starting to reckon that there is no whams in Guppy Love.

Edited by Delibirda on Jun 13th 2021 at 7:25:04 PM

Given that people familiar with the work are satisfied the examples that remain should remain, I'd say that I tend to agree that five examples is too few to justify a separate page. I don't know what other people think?

On top of being a ZCE, it's relying on a quote to be the example, which is also a no-no. But, if it is the case that it changed nothing, then it's not a wham.

Edited by Wyldchyld on Jun 13th 2021 at 6:26:13 PM

I say copy the examples back to the main page and cutlist it.

Sounds good; feel free to get started (or maybe I will, once I learn about how to request page cuts ).

WhamLine.Live Action TV seems to have a lot of Zero-Context Examples. I fixed a few, but I don't know the context for all of them.

On WhamEpisode.Naruto, there are so many examples that it reads like a summary of the series. A lot of them also don't seem to be particularly Whamm-y. There's a bunch of "bad things/something unexpected happens", even when it doesn't change the status quo in a meaningful way. Heck, some of the Whams are things that don't matter or are reversed after a few episodes.

Naruto.TropesLToZ also has a duplicate section for Wham Episode, where one of the biggest spoilers for the series is unmarked and in all caps. The other Wham tropes are present, and don't have a ton of examples, but they all restate stuff found in Wham Episode.

Obviously the two Wham Episode sections need to be merged, but I'm also thinking about purging the duplicates found in multiple Wham tropes, as well as the examples that don't really change the course of the series.

Edit: Also, WhamEpisode.The Legend Of Korra lists 35 different episodes as Wham Episodes, or 2/3 of the entire series. I feel like it's impossible for a series to have that many examples, especially because a lot of them are just "Plot ensues".

Edited by Blegh on Jun 25th 2021 at 8:45:14 AM

WhamEpisode.Avatar The Last Airbender:

• "The Avatar and The Fire Lord": Roku's backstory before and as the Avatar is presented properly, as he was good friends with Sozin before he became Fire Lord and started the Hundred-Year War.
• The first part of the series finale, "Sozin's Comet", reveals that Ozai isn't going to use Sozin's Comet to subjugate the Earth Kingdom- he's going to use it to burn the entire continent to the ground.

First one I think is misuse as unexpected it doesn't alter anything, at most builds up to things like Zuko's redemption that were already well in motion. Second I question as it's part of the finale and changes are undone at the end, this reveal seems more like Wham Line/Shot. Should finales be outright exempt or what?

More feed back on the Guppy Love example?

I already removed it as it doesn't reveal anything that isn't already apparent in the narrative.

Thoughts about the Avatar examples? I intended to cut them as the formers isn't status quo busting and the latter is is part of the finale so such drama is expended, the changes don't last after the arc, and the reveal is more like Wham Line. Objections?

Edited by Ferot_Dreadnaught on Jul 31st 2021 at 6:07:56 AM

Regarding the Guppy Love one, NOICE! Damn, gotta reread that one.

Edited by Delibirda on Jul 31st 2021 at 8:32:47 PM

Re: Avatar The Last Airbender, no objections here.

Come from Away has several potholes to Wham Line in quotes where characters learn about the 9/11 attacks. The show is about Gander, Newfoundland, Canada hosting diverted planes after the attacks, making the references to the attack a forgone conclusion.

There are two wham lines I'm not sure about. One concerns the death of a real person, and the other is the death of the son of one of the Composite Characters. Do either of these count as Whams?

I've seen the musical, and I think at least the first two examples are being used correctly, as they do provide serious emotional whiplash and affect the individual storylines, especially the death of the character's son. The third one's the only one I question, because it doesn't change the narrative of the show or the character (the character is revealing when she heard of 9/11, which we already saw in the show by this point), it's just a very hard-hitting line.

Phineas and Ferb has a few examples of this, all of them seem very wrong:

• Wham Episode:
  • The first part of "Where's Perry?" ends with Phineas, Ferb, and their friends falling into a gorge, Jeremy apparently breaking up with Candace, Perry suddenly vanishing after being hit by several inators at the same time, and the restaurant apparently losing Lawrence and Linda's reservation! Where's Perry is a two-part Cliffhanger where everything is solved and returns to normal in the second part.
  • "Happy Birthday, Isabella". Stacy finds out Perry's status as a secret agent, and doesn't get her memory erased. This is never mentioned again in the show.
  • "Night of the Living Pharmacists" has Isabella finally confessing her feelings to Phineas, though it is ambiguous if the two remember the event happening or not. The episode makes it clear that both Phineas and Isabella forgot what happened.

Yeah, none of those permanently change the show. (Though I personally wish the "Happy Birthday Isabella" part had come back.)

Someone check out WhamLine.Under Tale please

Edited by Spidey on Oct 22nd 2021 at 9:06:09 AM