To-do list:
- Move examples that fit one of the tropes on the Absentee Actor disambiguation page and remove ones that don't. For reference purposes, here's a list of the tropes on the disambiguation page:
- Adapted Out: A character with some significance to the original story is written out of an adaptation.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: A character disappears suddenly from a work with no in-universe explanation and subsequent installments act as though they never existed in the first place.
- A Day in the Limelight: A secondary character gets featured in an episode where they are the main focus.
- Demoted to Extra: When a character gets a less important role in a sequel or in an adaptation of the original work.
- Deus Exit Machina: When the most powerful character is written out for a portion of the story as to prolong it.
- Green Rooming: Introducing a new character who is then inexplicably ignored for a few episodes.
- Not Important To This Episode Camp: The plot of the episode does not include kid characters who are important to the plot, so their absence is quickly explained.
- Out of Focus: When certain characters are given significantly less spotlight than others.
- Put on a Bus: A character is written out of a work in a way that makes it easy for them to return later on.
- Ret-Gone: When all signs of a character's existence have been wiped out in-universe.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: When a minor plot element or character is dropped from the story with no explanation.
- Written-In Absence: When a character should be in the events of the story, but a few lines give a quick explanation of their absence.
On Absentee Actor Wick Check, only 8 out of 61 examples are correctly used. Perhaps this could be split into one trope for the original definition, and another one for any episode where one of the main protagonists is absent (whether or not there's an explanation, since the protagonist being absent is noteworthy).
Edited by GastonRabbit on May 16th 2022 at 6:18:06 AM
Also:
- Not Important To This Episode Camp: The plot of the episode does not include an important character, so their absence is quickly explained.
Edited by Synchronicity on Jan 27th 2022 at 10:06:40 AM
So where should legit examples of what was Absentee Actor (a character with good reason to appear inexplicably doesn't) be moved? Out of Focus?
(she/her)
Probably although it depends on the context.
I added A Day In The Lime Light and Not Important To This Episode Camp to the proposed disambig text here
. Am I good to swap it in now?
Edited by MacronNotes on Jan 31st 2022 at 11:05:31 AM
Macron's notes
Cake's just a shot away. (he/him)
(she/her)
I turned Absentee Actor into a disambiguation, moved the videos to Out of Focus and Not Important To This Episode Camp, and cut the subpages. Discussion page has been tagged as well.
3838 wicks to clean.
Cake's just a shot away. (he/him)
I added this to TRS Wick Cleaning. I didn't list all of the tropes this was disambiguated between because of how many there are, so I just referenced the fact that the disambiguation page lists possible destinations for the wicks.
You can't always get what you want.
Looking over the disambiguation page I wonder if Not Important To This Episode Camp should be replaced with Written-In Absence. Asking here for how/if they're different.
Thoughts about adding Deus Exit Machina to it?
Cake's just a shot away. (he/him)
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Why not have all three of those on there? If you think the first two you listed aren't different enough, they could get their own TRS thread in the future.
Edited by GastonRabbit on Feb 2nd 2022 at 3:29:38 AM
You can't always get what you want.
I added Written-In Absence to the disambiguation page since it was brought up here, plus it is even listed in AA's old Crappy Trope Definitions entry as a common form of misuse.
And yeah, looking at it side-by-side, it really is aggressively similar to the definition of Not Important To This Episode Camp, but that can be dealt with in another TRS thread.
Edit: Also I concur about adding Deus Exit Machina. Adding it to the list now.
Edited by prettycoolguy on Feb 2nd 2022 at 8:06:14 AM
2000s kid
Would Long Bus Trip fit in too?
I wish, I wish, with all my heart, to fly with dragons in a land apart.
I have an idea; why can’t we create an article about a main character’s unexplained absence? It has to have two criteria’s; The first is it has to be a main character, and the second has to be that said character’s absence is unexplained
We currently have 3809 wicks to clean up.
Should Fridge Logic be added to the disambiguation? (The point of AA was they're unexplained absences when they'd be expected to shoe causes Fridge.) Or do the tropes we already have there already cover that?
Bonnie's Artistic Cousin
If we see usage that fits Fridge Logic, maybe, but let's dive into the cleanup before worrying about it.
Current Project: The Team
Cake's just a shot away. (he/him)
I agree that focusing on cleanup is more important than worrying about the disambiguation page. The disambiguation page can always be edited after the thread closes.
You can't always get what you want.
Is this clean-up still happening? I was surprised to see a bunch of examples of this trope around the wiki. Not complaining, just curious.
Bonnie's Artistic Cousin
It's still happening, we just need someone to actually take the initiative- a lot of us are focused on other projects.
Current Project: The Team
Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him
Yeah it's Easter weekend for me and I have lots of schoolwork so I've been busy lately. When I have time I might get back to wick cleaning in general.
TRS Queue | Works That Require Cleanup of Complaining | Troper Wall
You can't escape this monster
I actually know an example that probably fit the original definition, but this trope is sadly Too Rare To Trope.
Edited by Dghcrh on Apr 17th 2022 at 7:00:36 PM
I'm mainly a fan of underrated media.
Cake's just a shot away. (he/him)
I added a to-do list to the opening post and pinned it. The OP's original contents have been moved to a folder.
You can't always get what you want.
Bonnie's Artistic Cousin
Decided to work on this next. About 3K wicks. Lets-a-go.
Current Project: The Team
Bonnie's Artistic Cousin
3288
Current Project: The Team
Bonnie's Artistic Cousin
3156
Current Project: The Team
Would Shoo Out the Clowns fit too?
the Retromancer
Fit to what?
TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
Crown Description:
What should be done with Absentee Actor?
I'd like to suggest adding A Day in the Limelight onto the list as well. A lot of misuse I saw of the original trope was in the fashion of "such and such main character were absent for most of the episode except for a brief cameo", which is usually a case of the episode or installment being that trope.