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Not Tropeworthy: Bare Your Midriff

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NOTE: The following thread was proposed by Mad About Love 97. Please give credit to them.


Like other appearance-based tropes that were cut or disambiguated, Bare Your Midriff mostly consists of chairs and ZCEs.

While there are tropes that tie into a bared midriff i.e. the Ms. Fanservice, No Dress Code or Exposed to the Elements, a crop top/half shirt on its own isn't a trope. Most examples aren't referred to in the work of question, leading to several one-handed troping examples.

Summary of Bare Your Midriff Wick Check:

  • A character is wearing a short shirt (35/77)
  • ZCE (36/77)
  • Applies to another trope (6/77)

Wick check:

The problem with Bare Your Midriff is that like other appearance-based tropes that were disambiguated, it attracts a lot of potholes or ZCEs that state "this character's midriff is exposed".

While there are several tropes that tie into an exposed midriff i.e. No Dress Code for when a character wears a crop top/half shirt in a school setting, Exposed to the Elements when a character wears a crop top in cold weather, or Age-Inappropriate Dress if a character is too old or young to wear said crop top, an exposed midriff on its own isn't a trope.

Wicks checked: 77/77

     Just "this character's outfit exposes their midriff" (35/77, 45%) 

    ZCE (36/77, 47%) 

     Applies to another trope (6/77, 8%) 
  • Mean Girls: "Most of her tops show off her belly button. How she gets away with this at school is anyone's guess." This is an example of No Dress Code.
  • Sly Cooper: Allies: ...and what a midriff it is. Especially when made to dress as a belly dancer in Thieves in Time. This sounds more like Bedlah Babe, also one handed troping.
  • The Man Who Sold the World: Huntress's outfit. The Hunter lampshades this, wondering how the hell nobody shot her there and calling it dangerous (and indecent). Sounds more like Chainmail Bikini since he's pointing out armor that doesn't protect her rather than the midriff.
  • Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind: Nausicaä at the end of Book 6 and part of Book 7, thanks to Heedra tearing her shirt off during an attack. This is more applicable to Clothing Damage.
  • Clone High: "Joan of Arc wears a black T-shirt that reveals her midriff. Even in the winter, she still wears outfits that show off her midriff." The later is more applicable to both Exposed to the Elements and No Dress Code.
  • Tropes A to C: Vicky's shirt exposes her bellybutton.
    • Along with Trixie in her Wonder Gal outfit, Veronica in her Wardrobe Malfunction, and few of the female students in Dimmsdale Elementary are like this too, the school itself has rather lousy dress code for allowing ten year olds walk around with their belly buttons revealing.
      • The former is a ZCE while the latter is another example of No Dress Code.

    Bare midriff is used for a reason(?/Total, %) 

    Unsorted 

Edited by GastonRabbit on Mar 7th 2023 at 2:58:47 PM

MadAboutLove97 Since: Jul, 2019 Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
#76: Mar 7th 2023 at 7:56:53 AM

Gaston, thank you for pinning this to the bulletin

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)
#77: Mar 7th 2023 at 9:03:42 AM

[up]No problem.

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
dudeu Since: Feb, 2021
#78: Mar 7th 2023 at 9:14:24 PM

I think we can leave it disambiguated now. I am sorry for the trope's decline into misuse.

Snicka Since: Jun, 2011
#79: Mar 9th 2023 at 2:27:32 AM

[up]If it's any consolation, Bare Midriffs Are Feminine is soon to be launched, that can catch most of the meaningful examples that are not ZCE and don't fit the other tropes.

dudeu Since: Feb, 2021
Snicka Since: Jun, 2011
#82: Mar 12th 2023 at 10:55:27 AM

What's going to happen with Navel Window? If we're keeping it, it can be added to the Bare Your Midriff Disambiguation, but isn't it a similarly chairs-y costume trope?

MadAboutLove97 Since: Jul, 2019 Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
#83: Mar 12th 2023 at 10:59:19 AM

Snicka, we’d have to do a separate wick check for Navel Window.

Yindee Just stoic wisdom. from New England Since: Jul, 2016
Just stoic wisdom.
#84: Mar 12th 2023 at 11:01:59 AM

What MAL said, but since it's (currently, at least) a trope, if there's a chunk of BYM wicks that fit it, it can go on the disambig page.

Vehicle-Based Characterization | Grief-Induced Split | Locker Mail
Willbyr Hi (Y2K) Relationship Status: With my statistically significant other
Hi
#85: Mar 12th 2023 at 9:07:12 PM

I TLP'd Navel Window, but I always suspected that it would come under scrutiny eventually. I think the idea of "conspicuous navel exposure" has merit as a trope, but I'll chalk it up to the shifting tides of TRS if it can't be salvaged.

Mysterium I am you from Winden Since: Mar, 2020 Relationship Status: Browsing the selection
I am you
#86: Mar 13th 2023 at 2:20:05 AM

Right now, Bare Midriffs Are Feminine is launched at the TLP, but I wondered if a similar worthy concept would be the "Muscular Bare Midriff". As in, a fit character shows off their impressive abs.

Edited by Mysterium on Mar 13th 2023 at 10:20:54 AM

Snicka Since: Jun, 2011
#87: Mar 13th 2023 at 2:30:20 AM

^ Good idea, it could catch obviously masculine characters (like the cast of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Lion-O or Huntara) who wear midriff-baring clothes.

In the Sandbox, the opposite of that concept was suggested: Fat Midriff, where an overweight character wears a small shirt to draw attention to their large gut (and perhaps their inability to find shirts that suit them). Mr. Smee is one such character that comes to mind.

Edited by Snicka on Mar 13th 2023 at 10:39:52 AM

Synchronicity (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#88: Mar 13th 2023 at 8:39:51 AM

Yeah showing abs for manliness can totally be a thing.

Snicka Since: Jun, 2011
#89: Mar 13th 2023 at 8:44:18 AM

Would this "manly abs" idea cover (or rather, expose) other kinds of display of abs beside crop tops, such as unbuttoned shirts or open vests? What about a full Shirtless Scene?

EDIT: No Shirt, Long Jacket already has a variant of this.

Edited by Snicka on Mar 13th 2023 at 4:46:42 PM

Mysterium I am you from Winden Since: Mar, 2020 Relationship Status: Browsing the selection
I am you
#90: Mar 13th 2023 at 11:48:03 AM

Which should be unisex, I think, and include the Amazonian Beauty.

Noaqiyeum Trans Siberian Anarchestra (it/they) from the gentle and welcoming dark (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
Trans Siberian Anarchestra (it/they)
#91: Mar 13th 2023 at 9:01:39 PM

[up][up] I don't think muscular abs exposed by a crop top are significantly different from muscular abs exposed by shirtlessness.

Or rather, "muscular abs show physical strength and sex appeal" and "clothing that specifically exposes the midriff indicates femininity" are orthogonal tropes. They're both elements of character design, but one is about the body and the other is about the clothing. An Amazonian Beauty (or, for that matter, Macho Camp, I guess?) character could be both.

The Revolution Will Not Be Tropeable
Snicka Since: Jun, 2011
#92: Mar 19th 2023 at 3:36:13 PM

The cleanup is going pretty well, almost 80% of the wicks have been cleaned up in about a week.

Edited by Snicka on Mar 19th 2023 at 11:36:33 AM

gjjones Musician/Composer from South Wales, New York Since: Jul, 2016
Musician/Composer
#93: Mar 19th 2023 at 11:04:15 PM

Unfortunately, the trope was just readded to Characters.RWBY Salems Faction by Daniel Benner 8891, after I removed it ten days ago (history is here). What's the best way to deal with this situation?

He/His/Him. No matter who you are, always Be Yourself.
MacronNotes (she/her) (Captain) Relationship Status: Less than three
(she/her)
#94: Mar 19th 2023 at 11:07:20 PM

You can send them a "not a trope" notifier and remove the example again. You are following wiki policy as disambiguation can't be used as tropes so it wouldn't be edit warring on your part.

Macron's notes
gjjones Musician/Composer from South Wales, New York Since: Jul, 2016
Musician/Composer
#95: Mar 19th 2023 at 11:11:27 PM

Thanks. I've just reverted the example, citing this thread.

Edited by gjjones on Mar 19th 2023 at 2:12:21 PM

He/His/Him. No matter who you are, always Be Yourself.
Yindee Just stoic wisdom. from New England Since: Jul, 2016
Just stoic wisdom.
Snicka Since: Jun, 2011
#97: Mar 20th 2023 at 12:31:17 PM

The Bulletin really helped.

I remember Those Two Bad Guys taking several months to get cleaned up, not helped by the fact that people constantly added new wicks.

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)
#98: Mar 20th 2023 at 1:12:48 PM

[up]I'm considering asking the other mods about swapping the bulletin for this project out for one with A Date With Rosie Palms since it's another project that's more time-consuming instead than difficult because it was also Chairs-y, but I'm not going to do that unilaterally. (As a side note, we prefer to only have one dewicking bulletin up at a time if we have one up at all, which is why there's only one right now.)

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
ACW Unofficial Wiki Curator for Complete Monster from Arlington, VA (near Washington, D.C.) Since: Jul, 2009
#99: Mar 21st 2023 at 8:24:00 AM

You know, I've no problem with disambiguating, but I'm just curious: Why was there even a crowner if there was only 1 option?

CM Dates; CM Pending; CM Drafts
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)
#100: Mar 21st 2023 at 8:25:42 AM

Because gauging consensus via posts wasn't sufficient, so we needed another way to gather votes. Crowners with only a single option are nothing new (they're frequently used to vote on whether to rename a trope); the old crowner system even had a "Single Proposition" type that only allowed one option at a time.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Mar 21st 2023 at 10:27:16 AM

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.

Trope Repair Shop: Bare Your Midriff
4th Mar '23 9:20:32 AM

Crown Description:

Bare Your Midriff attracts Zero Context Examples and examples that have no meaning beyond a character wearing a short shirt. What should be done with it? Note that tropeworthy concepts related to midriffs can be taken to the Trope Launch Pad independently of this thread.

Total posts: 103
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