Not Tropeworthy (alt names crowner 5 July 2021): Recycled In Space

This is something that's been bugging me for a long time.

Recycled In Space seems to be very confused about what it's supposed to be. It insists that it's not about space, yet compares itself to Astral Finale and its Example as a Thesis is about space. In fact, half of the page before the examples is a long list of what the trope isn't, and yet I still see it misused. "Not literal" and "advertising needs to blatantly refer to it as a copy" are ignored the most, and the latter is covered by If You Like X Files.

Also, there's the image on the main page. It's probably better for Image Pickin', but it illustrates the confused mindset behind this article: Angry Birds Space is a sequel, not a ripoff, has the same developers and publishers as Angry Birds. It also introduces numerous gameplay ideas: a brand new ice bird, modified abilities for the red and yellow birds, gravity-based planets, crystals that can be shattered, water physics, boss battles, and more.

If the idea behind the trope is supposed to be "ripoff", that's covered by ideas such as Recycled Premise or Follow the Leader.

A wick check of the Western Animation sub-page has been done here, and most examples were judged as not valid. I received consensus to make this a Just For Fun page (similar to X Meets Y), and while I'd rather have this awful idea and its history purged altogether, I'd accept that. Anything to get this off mainspace.

Opening.

I think the problem is that this trope has become a verbal meme, like "old story WITH TWIST!"

Courtesy link to the actual 'wick check' since I got confused when I got redirected to the top of a forum page.

I definitely see the potential for problems here — a lot can probably go in, like, Setting Update (if intentional), Surprisingly-Similar Stories (if unintentional) or similar pages — but I am questioning that problematic on-page examples for a single medium is enough reason to undertake a 5000-wick move. See How to Do a Wick Check for what a wick check *actually* is.

Edited by Synchronicity on May 7th 2021 at 11:52:40 AM

To be fair to the opening post, they are also mentioning a confusing description and that is a problem with or without a wick check.

Before the thread opened, I was debating with myself whether we needed a proper wick check or whether the confusing description was enough. IMO, the "trope" is redundant with Surprisingly-Similar Stories, It's the Same, So It Sucks, Recycled Premise, etc.

So cut?

I think a cut is jumping the gun, especially considering there isn't a wick check and this is a Trope Of Legend.

I think of Recycled In Space as "recycled with a gimmick" which is more specific than Recycled Premise. Looking though the examples, I do see some X Meets Y misuse but also what seem like valid examples.

I agree with the posters in the thread Synchronicity linked to who think this would work as a Just for Fun page. X Meets Y is already a Just for Fun page whose premise is "Work X is Work Y meets Work Z" while this is "Work X is Work Y with added gimmicks".

Edited by GastonRabbit on May 7th 2021 at 12:32:36 PM

I'll admit I'd rather see a proper wick check done before deciding, but there does seem too be a lot of problems and I wouldn't oppose a JFF move.

This trope has always confused me. While the basic concept behind the trope seems viable, I almost always seen it being potholed rather than it being listed as a trope, and the on-page “examples” seem like pure JFF content.

I’d like to see an actual wick check first, but I’m leaning towards a split, with the on-page examples being moved to their own JFF page and the concept behind the trope being redone with a more clear name, such as Recycled with a Gimmick.

Edited by jandn2014 on May 7th 2021 at 1:53:28 PM

Yeah Recycled with a Gimmick sounds tropable, it's just that the current trope would work better as JFF. So another to JFF from me.

That's a good idea. We can move proper usage to Recycled with a Gimmick and the other examples (or at least most of the on-page ones) to JFF.

I'd say Recycled with a Gimmick seems likely to work, as iTs name doesn'T seem as likely To devolve. two addendums: If You Like X Files has been cut and Tropes of Legend is a JFF page itself with no objective criteria or real discussion what belong there unlike something like Overdosed Tropes, so I'd take everything on it with a grain of salt.

Edited by Piterpicher on May 7th 2021 at 8:06:10 PM

Recycled with a Gimmick sounds like a good idea with a good name.

I like the name Recycled with a Gimmick.

What is the JFF page supposed to cover?

Whether or not this trope is renamed, it should be Just for Fun as well.

Speaking of the name, how about we call it Recycled With A Twist?

I really don't think we should decide to move 5108 wicks without a wick check.

We'll need about 71 wicks I think.

Here's a sandbox link: Sandbox.Wick Check In Space

We can work on it together. If we all pitch in, it won't take long. I'll make the folders and stuff in a second.

As the person who made who made the original "wick check"^note Really just me looking over some of the on-page examples on one of the subpages, since I did that before I knew what a wick check was linked in the OP, I can say I still have no idea what this trope is supposed to be. Most of the examples looked like they were written by people who hadn't even seen the later show so they just wrote their first impressions of them using the earlier shows that they had seen as references. I can see how this could be fun, but it kinda falls flat as an objective trope and the idea seems too similar to things like Recycled Premise or Follow the Leader. If it really is just "X Meets Y but Y is a gimmick", then I don't see why it shouldn't be a Just for Fun page to match up with X Meets Y.

By the way, the Xavier Riddle/Clone High example is still one of the most baffling things I've ever seen on this wiki.

~Naturalironist, thanks for adding to the wick check, though could you please follow the formatting? Potholes and comments should be in bold for consistency's sake.

Edit: Sorry, read the history wrong. It's Wood Knapp 94 who used different formatting, not you. Again, solid work, just please try and keep things looking consistent. Easier to read that way.

In any case, we're a little less than halfway done, and boy is this trope suffering. But it's not suffering from anything specific, just a whole lot of issues.

Edited by WarJay77 on May 9th 2021 at 7:32:20 AM

This trope seems to have the same problem that X Meets Y had, namely a bunch of Fan Myopia and ZC Es.

Cutting it is such a bad idea, so, like I said, it should be a Just for Fun entry.

Let's complete the wick check first and table the rest of the discussion. The results might change things.

In the meantime, I added a notice to the trope page.