To-do list:
- Move wicks for formula-breaking episodes to Formula-Breaking Episode. If there are any wicks that don't fit any of the tropes on the Something Completely Different index, remove them.here
The results of the wick check are as follows:
- Correct: 17/50, or 34%
- Subtrope: 6/50, or 12%
- Franchise-based: 4/50, or 8%
- Other misuse: 21/50, or 42%
- ZCE: 2/50, or 4%
I separated "Franchise based" from other examples because I wasn't sure if those sort of examples qualified or not. As for the subtropes, most of that usage was A Day in the Limelight. The misuse folder is the biggest one, and as I said, the usage ranges from "something weird happened in this scene" to "this is a weird turn of events for the characters" to "what a weird character". Another type of misuse I saw was for examples that outright admitted the shift wasn't a rare or unexpected occurrance.
Now, before I start coming up with solutions, I want to take a look at the subtrope list itself. Most of it's okay, but then you have things like Big-Lipped Alligator Moment, Playing Against Type, and Oddball in the Series that seem either completely out of place, or just a bit weird. BLAM especially, since it's a YMMV trope about a single moment within a work, which I'm pretty sure is misuse of the concept.
With that out of the way, how can this trope be fixed? Well... I feel like the title is at least partially responsible. As much as I love Monty Python, it's simply not a clear enough name for the definition, and the broadness of it leads to a lot of decay. Something as simple as slapping "Episode" at the end might work wonders, turning it into Something Completely Different Episode. A drier but likely more clear idea is Unusual Situation Episode. I also want to clarify whether or not this is something that can happen on a more meta scale, and to remove the misused subtropes from the list. My other idea is to do the opposite and expand this to cover any weird, out-of-place thing in a story. I'm not as sold on that idea, but it'd be less work.
Edited by GastonRabbit on May 16th 2022 at 5:38:24 AM
I think you got them all.
Cake's just a shot away. (he/him)
I think the option list looks fine.
You can't always get what you want.
Bonnie's Artistic Cousin
Well, I've already hollered at least twice. Anyone else wanna take a whack at it?
Current Project: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
Added a crowner as requested in the Discussions about moderation thread in FAQ.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Bonnie's Artistic Cousin
Thanks, Sep!
Current Project: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
Officially intimidated
Posting this comment to make public that I voted in favor of Formula Breaking Episode (it should be customized to Formula-Breaking Episode, in case it's the chosen title). I didn't upvote or downvote the other options.
135 - 158 - 273 - 191 - 188 - 230 - 300
Cake's just a shot away. (he/him)
The only thing I've currently done with the crowner was upvote Formula-Breaking Episode (because it's a clear name) and downvote Odd Episode (because it sounds too similar to Bizarro Episode).
You can't always get what you want.
Possible new name:
- Experimental Deviation Episode: When an episode deviates from the show's usual formula, often for experimental purposes.
Bonnie's Artistic Cousin
That might actually be a decent subtrope, but we can't change the crowner due to the overhaul and it's too narrow for the new name anyway.
Actually, I think we're ready to call Formula-Breaking Episode.
Current Project: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
Calling for Formula-Breaking Episode. If there are tweaks to be made to the description/definition, please finalize a description here: Sandbox.Formula Breaking Episode.
(Surprise!)
(EDIT: And of course my first mod action had a mistake in the sandbox link ![[lol]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lol2v12_4863.png "[lol]"){kind=small}
)
Edited by Synchronicity on Nov 29th 2021 at 2:28:48 PM
Bonnie's Artistic Cousin
Holy shit
Edit: And, well, awesome. Let's get to work on this.
Edited by WarJay77 on Nov 29th 2021 at 3:20:23 PM
Current Project: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
Cake's just a shot away. (he/him)
What exactly are we doing here? The old Page Action crowner doesn't work anymore. Is this just a regular rename?
Edited by GastonRabbit on Nov 29th 2021 at 7:04:50 AM
You can't always get what you want.
Convert to an index (the trope list is on the page already) and spin off the concept to a new name (Formula-Breaking Episode).
Bonnie's Artistic Cousin
Are there any tweaks we need to make, or can we just split the description away from Something Completely Different?
Current Project: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
Cake's just a shot away. (he/him)
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
I think we can use the existing description for Formula-Breaking Episode, but we'd need a new description for the index.
Cake's just a shot away. (he/him)
I did what I could for Sandbox.Formula Breaking Episode (mainly trimming the now-outdated reference to what used to be the Trope Namer and replacing Title Drops for the old name with the new name) and Sandbox.Something Completely Different, including making sandboxes for the former's subpages.
Edited by GastonRabbit on Nov 29th 2021 at 8:24:36 AM
You can't always get what you want.
Bonnie's Artistic Cousin
Looks good so far.
Current Project: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
Bonnie's Artistic Cousin
Bump. Does anyone have any opinions on the sandbox(es?)?
Current Project: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
Cake's just a shot away. (he/him)
I don't see anything wrong with them.
You can't always get what you want.
Cake's just a shot away. (he/him)
I neglected to mention this before, but the decision to move examples to sandboxes was influenced by what was done with Unintentionally Unwinnable, which used sandboxes to sort through examples. (Of course, the situation isn't quite the same, since that was a merge and this is a split.)
Edited by GastonRabbit on Dec 6th 2021 at 3:25:35 AM
You can't always get what you want.
Cake's just a shot away. (he/him)
Have the example subpages of Sandbox.Formula Breaking Episode (Sandbox.Formula Breaking Episode Anime And Manga, Sandbox.Formula Breaking Episode Comic Books, etc.) been sorted through? I was waiting for those to be sorted through before putting them and the main sandbox for Formula-Breaking Episode in place, similarly to what we did with Unintentionally Unwinnable.
Alternatively, if the subpages that are currently located at Main.Something Completely Different have been sorted through, we can drop the example sandboxes and just focus on the main Formula Breaking Episode and Something Completely Different sandboxes.
Edit: Another thing we could do is move the subpages in the SomethingCompletelyDifferent/ namespace to the FormulaBreakingEpisode/ namespace and clean up the subpages after they're moved, and drop the sandboxes for the subpages (but not the main Sandbox.Formula Breaking Episode and Sandbox.Something Completely Different sandboxes). I probably should have suggested doing that to begin with; unlike Unintentionally Unwinnable, we're doing a split instead of a merge, so I'm not sure if the subpage sandboxes were needed to begin with.
Edited by GastonRabbit on Dec 14th 2021 at 3:17:23 AM
You can't always get what you want.
Cake's just a shot away. (he/him)
I went ahead and put the sandboxes in place at Main.Formula Breaking Episode and Main.Something Completely Different. The on-page examples for the former and the wicks for the latter (link to Something Completely Different's wick list) need to be cleaned up.
I added them to TRS Wick Cleaning.
Edit: The Trope Transplant was noted in the Renamed Tropes thread and on the relevant Administrivia.Renamed Tropes subpage.
Edited by GastonRabbit on Dec 14th 2021 at 5:57:03 AM
You can't always get what you want.
Bonnie's Artistic Cousin
![[tup]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Thumbs_up_emoticon_3268.png "[thumb up]"){kind=small}
Angry babby
When does an installment stop being a Formula-Breaking Episode and just establish its own formula? Like, if there's a series of episodes that all break the mold in various ways, do they all count, or is breaking the formula in itself a formula?
If this sounds confusing, I'll explain: I follow a fanfic page that is composed of several story collections that combine into one narrative. A few of these collections are troped as Something Completely Different because they play with the main story's formula, but one of those story collections has the theme of messing with the format of the story. So that is its formula.
...Okay that's still confusing, LOL. The examples in question are on Characters.With Pearl And Ruby Glowing Water Of The Womb.
I do some cleanup and then I enjoy shows you probably think are cringe.
Crown Description:
A previous decision decided to rename Something Completely Different. What is the new name to be?
So, okay... Since we can't make crowners anymore, we'll just have to compile the options and let the mods make it. Does this seem right? I pretty much just added every suggestion we had so far.
- Formula Busting Episode
- Formula-Breaking Episode
- Formula Breakout Episode
- Odd Episode
- Breaking The Strictly Formula
- Unusual Situation Episode
- Something Completely Different Episode
Current Project: Incorruptible Pure Pureness