Duplicate Trope: The Reptilians

I made a thread about this on Trope Talk and there seems to be a consensus that:

a) The Reptilians is effectively a duplicate of Lizard Folk, in both page description and how it's being used.

b) There is a trope buried deep down in The Reptilians that deserves it's own page; the trope of lizard-people infiltrating society, as in the well-known conspiracy theory.

There are two obvious options here:

1) Redefine The Reptilians. Rewrite the description of The Reptilians to focus on the conspiracy theory, list it as a subtrope of Lizard Folk, transfer all of it's non-duplicate examples and wicks to Lizard Folk, go through every single example and wick it has to check if it's also an example of the new definition and if not (most of them weren't in the wick check) remove them.

2) Merge the two pages, create a new page for the new trope. Transfer all of The Reptilians' non-duplicate examples to Lizard Folk, redirect it, go through every single example and wick it has to check if it's also an example of the new definition and if they are (most of them weren't in the wick check) add them to the new page.

My preference is the second option, since it won't confuse people who're using the current definition (and wicking every random sci-fi creature that resembles a lizard to The Reptilians.) It also involves a bit less editing work, since we just add wicks for the new page, rather than having to manually change all the wicks for the old version of The Reptilians to the new definition.

Possible names for the new page:

The Lizards Rule The People - from the Douglas Adams Quote. Might be misleading because the quote doesn't really refer to this trope.

Lizard Illuminati - a popular and snappy phrase from the conspiracy theory, see e.g.

Icke Was Right - from the most famous proponent of the conspiracy theory

Underground Lizard People - a weak pun on the two meanings of "underground".

If anyone has a better suggestion for the name, or any other suggestion, please share it. If there's agreement on whether to create a new page I'll take it to the Trope Launch Pad and link that thread here.

Edited by MugaSofer on Nov 17th 2020 at 2:47:21 PM

Opening based on the wick check here.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

I agree on merging the two tropes and launching a new trope for the “reptilians rule the world” conspiracy theory. Not a fan of any of the name suggestions, though; how about something like Secretly Reptilian Overlords?

back lol

Can we please not name a trope after Icke, whoever that is? There are multiple famous people by that name, including an astronomer, several football players, and two writers.

Rhetorical, eh? ... Eight!

I like the name "Reptilians Rule The World" for the conspiracy theory. It's accurate and alliterative.

"I think if you're capable of entertaining people, then you are doing a good thing. - Stan Lee

Reptilians Rule The World, Secretly Reptilian Overlords and Lizard Illuminati all work for me.

Me Too!.

Not a fan of the Icke suggestion here.

she/her | TRS needs your help! | Contributor of Trope Report

Yeah, like I said in the Trope Talk thread, there's a useful distinction here from Lizard Folk but the current definition and usage aren't cutting it.

One question that comes to mind: the OP of that thread mentioned that there's also a trend in fantasy of shapeshifting/illusion-using reptile people. Would that be part of this new trope? Is it even really a thing in the first place?

Not a fan of Lizard Illuminati, since The Illuminati already exists and is an unrelated conspiracy theory.

Edited by Primis on Nov 18th 2020 at 7:43:43 AM

I like the separate trope idea. For the moment, cut The Reptilians.

I'd like to apologize for all this.

I like Secret Reptilian Overlords, a minor tweak from one of your suggestions.

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Honestly, I think the use of "reptilians" specifically in the plural is so commonly associated with the conspiracy theory that it can at the very least be kept as a redirect.

I like option #2, and wish to submit Reptilians Conspiracy as the name, since the conspiracy is an important aspect of the trope.

Link to TRS threads in project mode here.

I was just about to suggest Reptilian Conspiracy as a name!

Could a hypothetical "Reptilian Conspiracy" page include mere references to the conspiracy theory, like Nervous Ron from Grand Theft Auto V believing in it?

That's a Discussed Trope example.

Link to TRS threads in project mode here.

x5 — Agreed.

Reptillian Conspiracy

Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness

I like Reptilian Conspiracy myself.

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I was also going to suggest Reptilian Conspiracy as soon as I saw this thread. So yeah, I support that name.

Reptilians Conspiracy (plural) is the best option, but Reptilian Conspiracy (singular) is fine, too.

I actually thought it was adjectival so I prefer Reptilian Conspiracy. But the one that doesn’t get chosen should be a redirect

I think that's fine.

I am all for Reptilian Conspiracy

Kirby is awesome.

I used the plural because I meant it as "conspiracy about [this species]" and species is a plural. The inverse (where lizardfolk talk about apes living aboveground) would be the Humans Conspiracy, not the Human Conspiracy. That said, Creating New Redirects quote; "Exceptions can be made for [...] plurals within the name." So I don't particularly care which one is more popular.

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Oh, more important — Are we agreed that Rep Conspiracy is a subtrope to Lizard Folk? It just adds that the lizards are living underground in the modern day.

Edited by crazysamaritan on Nov 18th 2020 at 11:42:01 AM

Link to TRS threads in project mode here.