themayorofsimpleton
Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him
from Elsewhere
(Experienced, Not Yet Jaded)
Relationship Status: Abstaining
Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him
#2: May 6th 2022 at 5:29:29 AM
Your proposal seems reasonable. ![[tup]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Thumbs_up_emoticon_3268.png "[thumb up]"){kind=small}
to Definition-Only
Malady
(Not-So-Newbie)
#3: May 6th 2022 at 5:34:54 AM
Agreed
Disambig Needed: Help with those issues! tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13324299140A37493800&page=24#comment-576
How sweet it is
#4: May 6th 2022 at 5:43:18 AM
Seconding Definition-Only
she/her | TRS needs your help! | Contributor of Trope Report
prettycoolguy
Since: Nov, 2010
#5: May 6th 2022 at 5:55:40 AM
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
It's my world and only-definition.
(she/her)
#6: May 6th 2022 at 5:56:03 AM
Definition-only
Macron's notes
NaNo 4328 / 50,000
#7: May 6th 2022 at 5:59:01 AM
Just stoic wisdom.
#8: May 6th 2022 at 6:08:48 AM
Sounds like a good idea!
Vehicle-Based Characterization | Grief-Induced Split | Locker Mail
the Retromancer
#9: May 6th 2022 at 7:47:48 AM
Kinda already is besides the pagetype, so should be Def-only.
Edited by Amonimus on May 6th 2022 at 9:22:00 PM
TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
WarJay77
Big Catch, Sparkle Edition
(Troper Knight)
Big Catch, Sparkle Edition
#10: May 6th 2022 at 11:03:38 AM
Def Only
Professional Wick Checker
Tabs
Since: Jan, 2001
#13: May 6th 2022 at 3:19:53 PM
Definition only.
Hi
#14: May 6th 2022 at 6:01:10 PM
+1 to make it definition-only.
Nen_desharu
Nintendo Fanatic Extraordinaire
from Greater Smash Bros. Universe or Toronto
Since: Aug, 2020
Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Nintendo Fanatic Extraordinaire
#15: May 6th 2022 at 7:08:40 PM
Def only for me
Kirby is awesome.
Very Spooky
#16: May 9th 2022 at 4:13:48 AM
Definition only.
themayorofsimpleton
Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him
from Elsewhere
(Experienced, Not Yet Jaded)
Relationship Status: Abstaining
Now a lurker. Thanks for everything. | he/him
#17: May 9th 2022 at 4:14:39 AM
It's been 3 days and it's unanimous. I think we can call.
TRS Queue | Works That Require Cleanup of Complaining | Troper Wall
(she/her)
#18: May 9th 2022 at 5:12:05 AM
Calling in favor of making Murphy's Law definition only. I added it to Definition-Only Pages and tagged the discussion page.
Macron's notes
GastonRabbit
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
from Robinson, Illinois, USA
(General of TV Troops)
Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#19: May 9th 2022 at 1:39:43 PM
I changed the page type since it's no longer a disambiguation page (it was mentioned in the Stuffed into the Fridge thread by a different mod that the "disambig" page type isn't supposed to be used for anything other than pure disambiguation pages). I went with "trope" because while it's still Not a Trope, that's pretty much the default page type for anything in Main/, including other non-tropes like Audience Reactions and Trivia.
Edited by GastonRabbit on May 9th 2022 at 3:40:36 AM
Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
GastonRabbit
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
from Robinson, Illinois, USA
(General of TV Troops)
Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#20: May 10th 2022 at 1:16:32 AM
Main/ is done.
For archival purposes, I'm going to copy the wick check to this post and then cut the sandbox:
Checked: 51/51 (because I accidentally copied an extra wick)
open/close all folders
References to the term
Note: Since my proposal is to turn the page into a Definition-Only Page, we'd be keeping these wicks.
- A Commander Is You: The Diplomat Faction. Has no strengths except for the ability to make other people do their work for them. They're often able to push their agenda in inter-faction relations, cover up any dubious actions without morale loss, and generally get better deals in trading and diplomacy. In games with focuses on combat, playing as these on multiplayer matches is generally a Self-Imposed Challenge, since AI manipulative skills are rendered moot, Murphy's Law, and people being jerks, unless you're playing with friends, who will probably Troll you anyways.
- Co-Op Multiplayer: While most tabletop games center around player competition, there are also games where all players are on the same team, opposed only by the Random Number God and Murphy's Law. Cooperative board games
are distinct from games with team-based competition, ones where you're expected to form dynamic alliances, and ones without any winning condition at all (like narrative games). One common addition to cooperative board games is the "traitor"—a player secretly working to subvert others' efforts—but unmasking the traitor is neither necessary, nor sufficient to win the game, so there is no real competitive element there, either.
- Disaster Relief Game: A major disaster, whether natural or man-made, presents a situation at least just as tense and dangerous as combat, but instead of sentient enemies, the players are opposed by a faceless destructive force (like a fire, a disease, or even a flood of mindless creatures), which has the Murphy's Law and the Random Number God on its side. The mechanics for spreading disaster often involve randomly localized outbreaks and cascading spread, where every seemingly minor event can trigger a deadly chain reaction.
- Dying Declaration of Love: At least half of the time, Murphy's Law holds that this can turn into a Not-So-Final Confession. The dying person will make a miraculous recovery after the confession and try to back out of what they just said. (A Last-Second Word Swap may be required to keep the Will They or Won't They? situation alive.)
- Fan-Disliked Explanation: In the Milo Murphy's Law / Phineas and Ferb Crossover, four years after the latter show ended, it's explained that Phineas and Ferb impact probability similar to how Milo does, and all the Contrived Coincidences from Phineas are examples. When Milo is around, whatever can go wrong will go wrong; "the Phineas and Ferb Effect" sees to it that the boys will succeed in nearly anything they want to do. Some fans were displeased by the Retcon as they feel it undermines their powerful sibling bond, unwavering optimism, inventive knack and creative spirits in favor of their success being Because Destiny Says So.
- House Rules: Since Murphy's Law dictates that the card you draw to replace the one you just played will always be better than the one you played, some groups let you "bet" a black card to play that card as well. If either of your cards win, you win your black card back; if someone else wins, they get your black card.
- Parrot Exposition: Of course, Murphy's Law of Combat states it'll be misinterpreted anyway. (Side note: This is natter, so it would need to be removed regardless.)
- Retirony: Discussed in the Touhou Universe Compendium Symposium of Post-mysticism as an example of one of Murphy's Youkai, malicious spirits brought into existence by people's belief in tropes. Yes, seriously.
- Short Cuts Make Long Delays: One of the more hilarious consequences of GPS navigation for cars. Most drivers will tend to stick to the routes they are familiar with, but when they get a GPS some will decide to take its routing instructions because it's supposedly shorter or faster. Murphy's Law will inevitably kick in and they'll find the shorter route will have construction, recent changes to streets (such as switches to 1-way) that aren't reflected in the GPS database and other comedic impediments. Also the number of delays they will face will be directly proportional to how urgently they have to get to their destination. If your GPS has choice systems, you might have cases where there is one route that is shorter in terms of miles traveled, but the travel time is longer (for instance, in the mountains, going on seasonal roads over mountain passes), while the other route, although longer in miles, turns out to be faster in time (because it uses Interstates and roads that are year-round). Your GPS also may or may not take into account the time of day and week - an Interstate might be faster if it's 3 AM and few people are on but a practical parking lot during rush hour.
- What's a Henway?: You've probably heard of Murphy's Law, but have you heard of Cole's Law? It's thinly sliced cabbage, with mayonnaise and carrots.
- BeamMeUpScotty.Real Life: Commonly given as "Anything that can go wrong, will [go wrong]", but Edward Murphy was a little more verbose: "If there's more than one way to do a job, and one of those ways will result in disaster, then somebody will do it that way." See also Finagle's Law.
- BoringButPractical.Real Life: An additional rule on Murphy's Law: "If something looks stupid but it works, then it's NOT stupid."
- Characters.Monsters Vs Aliens: Her last name is Murphy. Considering how much goes wrong for her, it's extremely appropriate.
- Characters.National Lampoons Vacation: Clark and Ellen's daughter, who frequently bickers with her brother or covers herself in a layer of snark to combat whatever Murphy's Law has to offer. In the revival, she's married to the handsome Stone Crandall.
- Fanfic.Never Say Never: Celestia's plan on chapter 3 simply does not go as planned, and whenever she tries to improvise and salvage her plan, she's still on the receiving end of another spanner. She even goes as far as to call it the proof that Murphy's Law does exist and that the universe hated her. And that's before she discovers even if she wins the bullying trial, she won't be allowed to leave as (having not actually killed anyone) she's not a blackened. After that it overlaps with Trauma Conga Line, see her character page for more details.
- Fanfic.Scarred Survivors: It is an AU and Dark take on the world of Ah! My Goddess, a world where Murphy's Law struck true, and everything that could go wrong, did indeed go wrong.
- Film.Good Luck Chuck: Cam says he brother calls her "Murphy" as a reference to Murphy's Law due to her being The Klutz.
- Film.Twenty Fifth Hour: While rescuing the abused dog on their way to a drug deal, Monty gets bitten, prompting Kostya to make a statement referencing Murphy's Law, but he mistakenly calls it Doyle’s Law. Monty is confused until he realizes Kostya’s mistake. Later, we see that Monty has named the dog he rescued "Doyle".
- Funny.Ninjago: Upon hearing P.I.X.A.L call the Hydro Bounty unsinkable, Cole freaks out at this blatant invocation of Murphy's Law. P.I.X.A.L is visibly confused and the others force Cole to stop before he can explain it, instead prompting a Last-Second Word Swap.
- GetAHoldOfYourselfMan.Anime And Manga: Sakura: Sakura has two whole episodes worth of angst, and it wasn't really her fault. Murphy's Law gave her really terrible luck since childhood. Just when she turns her life around due to Ai's comment about being determined, she gets hit by a truck. After regaining her memories, she immediately gives up on life and whereas Saki fails to slap some sense into her, Yugiri does it effectively and makes her point. After her successful concert outing, she regains her undead memories and overcomes her personal grief.
- Laconic.The Last Circus: In Francoist Spain a Sad Clown falls in love with a Monster Clown's girlfriend, and everything that could go wrong, DOES.
- MeaningfulName.Animated Films: The heroine of Monsters vs. Aliens is Susan Murphy, and at the start of the movie it seems like anything that can go wrong on her wedding day, does go wrong: she finds out her ambitious fiancee Derek wants to forgo their honeymoon in Paris for a trip to Fresno for a job interview, she gets hit by a meteorite, exposure to Imported Alien Phlebotinum turns her into a 49-foot 11-and-a-half-inch giantess, and she gets captured by a Government Conspiracy that eventually drafts her into fighting an alien invasion.
- PokemonResetBloodlines.Tropes F To M: Referenced by the narration in Chapter 22, in response to Snivy Tempting Fate. Technically a ZCE, but what's given indicates that it's a reference to the term.
- StealthPun.Epic Rap Battles Of History: RoboCop: "What can go wrong for you will, creep: Murphy's Law!" note
- VideoGame.Receiver 2: Discussed in the launch trailer (see the page quote), and this mindset is actively encouraged by the game itself. It's also discussed in one of the tapes, but it's incorrectly refereed to as Murphy's Law.
Indexes
Note: Since the page is currently classified as a disambiguation page, the page shouldn't be on any indexes other than Ambiguity Index, with the possible exception of translations into other languages (such as the Italian index). However, converting it into a Definition-Only Page would allow them to stay.
- Cynicism Tropes: Anything, and I mean anything, definitely will go wrong.
- It.Elenco Provvisorio M: Murphy's Law [Legge Di Murphy] Index for the Italian translation project.
Use as a trope
Note: These already appear to have tropes for them and could be moved thusly if this becomes a Definition-Only Page.
- Characters.Dream SMP Snowchester: Jack is quite possibly the unluckiest player on the server. With his status as the Butt-Monkey, him losing all of his items extremely frequently, as well as nearly all of his plans backfiring on him, it's hard not to pity him. This is covered by Born Unlucky, so it should be listed under that instead.
- Fanfic.White Sheep RWBY: Jaune points out in Chapter 30 that even though their plan is to simply attend a White Fang meeting and leave, the last time they tried that they nearly got caught in a sting operation and had to fight the cops while rescuing a terrorist recruiter. He adds on that none of the plans they have made so far have worked smoothly. This might fit under Failure Is the Only Option.
- Literature.The Lost World 1995: InGen ran into this a lot with their genetics experiments. Massive genetic engineering projects are hard with multiple things going wrong. Even keeping the animals they did manage to create alive was a struggle and all kinds of genetic diseases and syndromes cropped up. Not sure where this would fit, but it doesn't mention failure being inevitable (the "will go wrong" aspect).
- Recap.Batman The Animated Series E 51 The Man Who Killed Batman: Sidney is believed by the cops to be a criminal mastermind and all the other goons of the underworld think he's an incredibly tough guy (even a big-shot mafioso like Thorne, who sees all of the events and decides to believe that Sid's just playing dumb). The Joker is right about Sidney being just some lowly dope, but even then he doesn't seem to (hell, he doesn't wish to) compute that even the Dark Knight can be just as (seemingly fatally) susceptible to Murphy's Law as anybody else.
- Recap.Milo Murphys Law S 2 E 18 Freefall: This episode illustrates a classic textbook example of a bare-bones case of Murphy's Law. The skydiving tube had a safety system and a total of 7 backup safety systems in case one of them failed. Thanks to Murphy's Law, all eight of them failed and chaos ensued. Sounds like Failure Is the Only Option.
- Series.Trust: Everything about the efforts to rescue Little Paul seems to go wrong. First Paul Jr. spends weeks on a bender and thus misses the negotiations, then he sabotages the negotiations because he doesn't like the terms of the agreement, then Primo and his goons send Little Paul's ear to try and speed things up, but it gets delayed in the mail because of a postal strike, and then when the ransom is finally prepared, Primo nearly sabotages the hand-off by making absurd demands in order to make everything more "dramatic". "Seems to go wrong" sounds like a violation of Examples Are Not Arguable, so this one can probably be deleted regardless.
- TabletopGame.Illuminati New World Order: There is a card called ''Murphy's Law." It will mess up your day. Could probably be transplanted elsewhere since it's a reference to the term.
Zero-Context Examples
- Fanfic.Sanctuary The Lion King: The author makes judicious use of this- even quoting it in one chapter- alongside Diabolus ex Machina. Uses "This example is an example" Word Cruft instead of providing proper context, and what little information we have to go by indicates that it's a reference to the term.
- Film.Runaway Train: Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong, though for Manny this works out just perfectly. The example doesn't provide any context regarding how things went wrong. May fit under Failure Is the Only Option if given context, but I'm not sure.
- Webcomic.Shifters Absolutely no attempt to provide context was given; the bullet point only has the page name and is commented out.
Potholes
Note: It isn't being used as a trope in these cases, but they may fit other tropes. In a lot of these cases, they seem like sinkholes that are tacked on regardless of whether the term is relevant.
- Failsafe Failure: It gets better. That was the backup device. Someone noticed a problem with the primary during some tests, hence Transocean fitted the monitoring kit and said "Oh, don't worry, the backup will take care of it." Predictably, when it was called upon, the backup failed.
- First Kiss: An individual's first kiss will generally be the subject of a great deal of nervousness. It may be preceded by some Kissing Warm-Up. Subjects (usually teenaged) will approach one another tentatively. They'll want it to be perfect, and with the perfect person, and when it inevitably isn't... well, it'll turn out all right anyway. In Japan, where the culture is more strict, the first kiss is an even bigger deal; Sacred First Kiss has more details.
- Real Joke Name: After the release of the movie Amélie, it turns out there was a girl in France named Amélie Poulain. The producer was surprised because he had his people do research to make sure there wasn't anyone sharing her name.
- ComicBook.Ric Hochet: Ric wants to write an article about life behind bars, so with Bourdon's permission, he is given a false identity and placed in jail for a few days. The police had comb the entire list of detainees to make sure Ric wouldn't ran into his old enemies. And of course he does. Detective Ledru had reviewed the list, but has forgotten that Philippe Manière was an alias for Pierrot Volcan Jr., AKA The Chameleon.
- Fridge.Dogma: Considering the previous sentence was "No denomination's nailed it yet," it's hard to read Serendipity as including those things. And also, the "faith" one has is science is widely considered to be fundamentally different. And she said "it doesn't matter what you have faith in", not "it's important that you have faith that the universe is mostly constant". What if I have faith that the universe is random and mostly shitty? According to Serendipity's logic, especially if it doesn't just mean religious faith, that's fine too, and still much better than not having faith at all.
- Funny.Chuggaaconroy Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Episodes 151 To 200: Chugga: My chances of getting this Blade, I calculated it that, with Nia's Luck stat where it is, my Idea stats where they are, and using mostly Rare Core Crystals, generally speaking, I've got somewhere around a 2.5-3% chance of pulling this each time that I try? (beat) I failed it 90 times in a row.
- Recap.Avengers Season 2: FAIL — Shin (99/85): He friendly fired Viktor in the back while trying to shoot between his clothes like in a previous episode. It is even funnier when you know that it happened directly after Viktor's Critical Failure with the gargoyle, and that because Shin was in "attack mode" the arrow did the maximum damage points possible.
- Series.Forged In Fire: Happens every so often after a few episodes. No matter how well a smith is doing, even to the point of clearly dominating the challenges and their competition with their skill and attention to detail, catastrophe will inevitably strike in the final seconds of the allotted time, or the final swing of the blades in the hands of the judges, granting passage/victory to the clear underdogs. Like Wil often remarks:
- TierInducedScrappy.Heroes Of The Storm: Sgt. Hammer is arguably the best siege hero in the game. She will probably make you rage - either because she can't get herself set up in a good spot (thanks to the other team making sure to always harass her away, as siege mode is a big "Kick me" sign) or because your team can never keep an eye on her until she tears your buildings to shreds. She also has been able to make people playing solo range for the fact that seeing a Sgt. Hammer more or less flat out forces you to babysit her, and sure enough, any Sgt. Hammers on the other team will have people glued to her, while yours will run away from her like she spews poison.
- VideoGame.The Reconstruction: Right at the beginning of the game, Crewman Murphy comments on how it's his last day before retiring...right after having been issued a Red Shirt. Subverted when he just narrowly avoids death and goes out for a cup of coffee with his coworker. Might count as a reference to the term.
- YMMV.Roblox: Sparks Kilowatt's objective for Destined To Fail, while not exactly quite as easy as the above two, can be completed very easily, likely because it's mostly an movie about everything going wrong, and it can be done in less than five minutes. Might count as a reference to the term.
- YMMV.Suffer: How brutal the Trauma Conga Line is, with unhappy moments always meeting unhappy fates, especially deaths, can make the readers roll their eyes.
Other
"With these Japanese swords that can easily cut through cashmere, we will slay you!"
—Bodyguards of the young lady Hayate is rescuing (Isumi), while said butler is wearing a very expensive cashmere coat which he must not damage. Murphy's Law. This wick reads like a Non Sequitur because the sentence it's in contains nothing other than the wick.
Multiple (more than one wick on a page)
- Characters.Zombie Land Saga Franchouchou:
- Sakura: Sakura has two whole episodes worth of angst, and it wasn't really her fault. Murphy's Law gave her really terrible luck since childhood. Just when she turns her life around due to Ai's comment about being determined, she gets hit by a truck. After regaining her memories, she immediately gives up on life and whereas Saki fails to slap some sense into her, Yugiri does it effectively and makes her point. After her successful concert outing, she regains her undead memories and overcomes her personal grief. Reference to the term.
- There are indications that he knew about Sakura's terrible luck, and is ready to improvise whenever their stage gets destroyed during concerts. Made explicit in Episode 10 of Revenge where it's revealed that Saga is under a curse that tries to kill anyone who might bring it fame and fortune: Kotaro knows about the curse and has prepared accordingly. Covered by Born Unlucky.
- 25/51 of the wicks, which is about half, feature references to the term.
- 2/51 wicks are just on indexes.
- 7/51 use it as a trope, but usage is probably redundant with other tropes.
- 3/51 are ZCEs.
- 12/51 are potholes, often sinkholes that don't explain how Murphy's Law applies.
- 1/51 is unclear because it feels tacked on.
- 1/51 is actually two wicks on one page; one is a reference to the term and the other is redundant with Born Unlucky.
Edited by GastonRabbit on May 10th 2022 at 3:16:46 AM
Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
GastonRabbit
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
from Robinson, Illinois, USA
(General of TV Troops)
Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#21: May 10th 2022 at 2:37:09 AM
Namespaces A through C are done.
Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
Just stoic wisdom.
#22: May 10th 2022 at 11:10:57 AM
~GastonRabbit D'ya need/want assistance with this one?
Vehicle-Based Characterization | Grief-Induced Split | Locker Mail
GastonRabbit
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
from Robinson, Illinois, USA
(General of TV Troops)
Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#23: May 10th 2022 at 11:44:48 AM
Anyone is free to help out with wick cleaning. Nobody needs permission.
GastonRabbit
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
from Robinson, Illinois, USA
(General of TV Troops)
Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#24: May 16th 2022 at 3:26:08 AM
I finally finished this, so closing.
Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
Total posts: 24
Murphy's Law is in an odd state — its listing on Ambiguity Index and its disambig page type imply it's a disambiguation page, but it has a description and page quote regarding Murphy's law
, which is a preexisting term, meaning it's set up more like a Definition-Only Page.
I don't think a wick check is necessary here because, if it's a disambiguation page, it shouldn't have wicks to begin with, yet it has 292 wicks despite that (some of which are on indexes other than Ambiguity Index) — the issue here is with how the page itself is set up rather than how it's linked to on other pages. That said, I did one anyway, and it shows that a lot of wicks already treat it as though it were a Definition-Only Page.
I think having a page that defines the term would be useful to have, so I think it should be turned into a Laws and Formulas Definition-Only Page that retains the definition currently on the page, plus the list of pages at the bottom; this would mean removing the Ambiguity Index listing and the disambig page type. Stuffed into the Fridge and Mondegreen are currently set up this way due to previous TRS efforts, and as with those pages, we'd be removing examples, but retaining inline wicks that reference the term.
The wick check can be found at Murphys Wick Check.
Checked: 51/51 (because I accidentally copied an extra wick)
So, it's already usually used to reference the term, and attempts to use it as a trope often are redundant with other tropes, don't clearly indicate that the law applies, or are potholes inserted gratuitously. Thus, I'm proposing we convert the page from a disambiguation page to a Definition-Only Page.
Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.