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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

ACW Unofficial Wiki Curator for Complete Monster from Arlington, VA (near Washington, D.C.) Since: Jul, 2009
Snicka Since: Jun, 2011
#102: Mar 21st 2023 at 10:37:33 AM

We're down at 90 wicks, over half of which are sandboxes. Great job!

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)
#103: Mar 21st 2023 at 11:04:11 AM

Done here, so locking up.

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