trope talk thread

Since all "memetic X" tropes that deals with viral memes are YMMV it's not clear if "memetic" here refers to IRL popularity or "memetic" as in a signature thing In-Universe (i.e. Signature Laugh) or maybe even a messy blend of both.

Wick check results are as follows:

• 15/50 or 30% are ZCEs.
• 5/50 or 10% are just examples of universal hand gestures.
• 3/50 or 6% are examples of hand gestures that became iconic/a meme IRL.
• 2/50 or 4% are examples of hand gestures that became a meme In-Universe.
• 25/50 or 50% are misuse for other tropes, vague potholes, and other unsorted examples.

• Long analysis: More than half of the examples are misusing the trope for Character Tics: a hand gesture a character is associated with. Several examples are ZCEs that don't explain how the hand gesture is memetic. A few examples either trope universal hand gestures (5 wicks) or ones that became memes IRL (3 wicks) or In-Universe (2 wicks). Overall, the most common usage for the trope is covered by another trope or it's used for gestures that became memetic either in the story or out of it probably due to having "memetic" in the name.
  
• Possible solutions:
  • Since the trope is mostly used as The Same, but More Specific version of Character Tics without distinct examples, I'd say we merge the two, and I'm aware it has 2k inbounds but it's already covered by the previously mentioned trope. We can redirect too.
  • Or if we don't want to lose inbounds, then disambiguate between Character Tics, Idiosyncratic Cultural Gesture, Magical Gesture, Strange Salute, and possibly other gesture tropes.
  • Yard the "a hand gesture becomes a meme IRL" concept or send it to TLP if someone is willing to sponsor it.

What should be done with the trope?

1. Anime.Macross Frontier:
   • The "Kira~" gesture, coupled with memetic mutation.
   • The Nyan Nyan dance goes along with the Nyan Nyan song.
2. Characters.Fate Extella The Umbral Star: In Tamamo-no-Mae's folder, As part of her battle intro cutscene in Extella Link, Tamamo makes the fox-head hand-sign, which is traditionally associated with kitsune.
3. Characters.Mass Effect 1 NP Cs: In The Citadel Council's folder, "Ah, yes, 'Reapers'..." To the "point" where "Sparatus" cannot be "mentioned" without "air quotes." "* air quotes* "
4. Characters.The Idolmaster Side M:
   • Hokuto Ijuuin' folder, His "Ciao ☆" pose. With the index and middle fingers put together standing, ring and pinkie fingers down, while the thumb is out, he uses it in a bunch of his cards.
   • W 's folder', Twin peace signs/V for Victory signs placed side by side to form a W.
5. Characters.Ultraman TV Series: Ultraman's folder, Again, probably the Trope Codifier in Japan. The Specium Ray hand pose. Left hand horizontal, right hand vertical, connected at the wrist with the left in front. — Claims to be the codifier to... a nonexistent trope.
6. Characters.Super Smash Bros Ultimate 64 To 69: Incineroar' folder, Incineroar makes a lot of "one" signs during its taunting.
7. Creator.Dane Cook: The "su-fi" (short for "super finger"), something of an "upgrade" from the regular middle finger gesture that includes both the middle and ring fingers. It has two different meanings.
8. Awesome.Ru Pauls Drag Race: Priyanka vs Ilona, to Allie X's "Hello". Priyanka once again puts the passion and mixes it with a hefty dose of comedy, air-drumming to the beat of the song and appropriately greeting the judges during the chorus (first with the Queen's Wave, then a goofy hand wave which leaves them in stitches, especially Allie X herself). It's no surprise that Pri manages to send Ilona packing.
9. AdventureTime.Tropes I To R: The whole "Adventure Time!" fist pound between Finn and Jake.
10. Video Games: The Nintendo Switch has a very clever easter egg that can only be triggered on a specific date. The console has to be set to July 11th and you have to perform the Memetic Hand Gesture "directly to you" that was done by the late Satoru Iwata with the Joy-Cons. Doing the gesture properly unlocks the Golf from the NES and it can only be played on July 11th. The date was the day that Iwata passed away and the game was one of the earliest games that he programmed, making the whole easter egg a nice tribute to him.
11. Manga.Flower Knight Dakini: Dakini's 'flower drawing', which Eiden picks up as well.
12. Series.The Carol Burnett Show: Carol's ear tug.
13. WebAnimation.The Frollo Show: One character idoing a thumbs-up, and their closest companionraising their arms. Its called "The Bros Pose". — Okay, but is it memetic/iconic?
14. WebVideo.Z True Long Island Story: Holding his right index finger and thumb in the shape of an L, while holding up one finger on his left hand.
    • It's an L and an I, for "Long Island", in case anyone failed to notice that.
15. Wrestling.The Kliq: You know the one. Look at the page image. — 'It's the universal sign of the horns but this barely has context

1. Characters.Danganronpa Male Students: In Leon Kuwata's folder, He can sometimes be seen flashing the sign of the horns.
2. Characters.Kamen Rider Kuuga Main Charaters: In Kuuga's folder, The thumbs-up, which he gives to everyone. One of the few that are justified: Yusuke inherited it from his teacher, because it meant "Well Done" to someone who surpassed adversity. Yusuke's sensei taught him this while cheering him up from Yusuke losing his father. He encouraged Yusuke to protect his mom's and sister's smiles, and grow up to be a man who could protect everyone's smiles. If not for Yusuke's teacher, we wouldn't know the wonderful man he became. — Universal hand gesture + more of a Character Tic
3. Film.Tiger Cage 2: David does this. After his first fight with Yau, he barely survives almost being thrown over a bridge and into a highway. Upon pulling himself up and onto the bridge, he performs the "Sign of the Cross" as being thankful for surviving. — Universal hand gesture shows up
4. Literature.Kono Suba: All of Kazuma's party frequently flash the thumbs-up sign to signal that, even after a long day of toil, everything is ok.
5. WesternAnimation.Trolls World Tour: As some posters show, the sign of the horns show up from various characters. Supplementary materials explain that all of the main troll tribes get their own cultural hand gestures, and that (naturally) this is the Rock trolls', which shows in their scenes.

1. Memes.Anime And Manga:
   • Macross' folder, Ranka Lee's Kira Pose. Ranka's Memetic Hand Gesture, which she most notably performs in her Signature Song "Seikan Hikou", has become a Stock Shout-Out to the Macross franchise in Japan. Much like the above-mentioned Nyan Nyan Dance, it is common to find other characters doing the gesture.
   • Pop Team Epic, Popuko and Pipimi's tendencies to pull up exaggerated middle fingers has become the Memetic Hand Gesture for the series.
2. Memes.Attack On Titan: As expected of Pieck! That's exactly right![[labelnote:Explanation]]A popular phrase that popped up from one of the translations of chapter 95 wherein Zeke praises Pieck's intellect with that exact wording. It's pretty much become the go-to phrase to express the fandom's love for [[EnsembleDarkhorse Pieck]]. Often accompanied by Zeke pointing at Pieck in the same scene, which has become a MemeticHandGesture associated with this phrase.[[/labelnote]] — Not sure, but him pointing at Pieck became a meme IRL so I'm putting it here
3. TabletopGame.Yu Gi Oh: Some players have adopted the practice from the anime of placing their hands over their decks to signify surrendering the duel, though it's obviously not sufficient to just do this for it to legitimately count as a surrender.

1. Roleplay.Dangan Roleplay Round Two: Hands on either side of one's head to represent Xerneas' antlers, as Sycamore does when telling Schuldig that it would be difficult to play Head It with a deer. It even becomes a memetic hand gesture In-Universe.
2. VideoGame.No Straight Roads: In-Universe. After defeating DJ Subatomic Supernova, Mayday tells Tatiana that Bunk Bed Junction now fights "for the little guy!", symbolized by holding her fist up with her pinkie finger extended. As B2J takes back more and more of the city, graffiti of the hand gesture starts appearing all over from fans of the band.

1. Body Language: A hand gesture associated with a character. — Covered by Character Tics
2. Memetic Personality Change: Undertale:
   • Sans will usually be portrayed as much more Wangst prone in Fan Works (he's popular with female fans, you see). The real Sans shows some depressive traits, but they're more based on just plain not caring about anything [[spoiler: because he knows it'll just reset again and they'll never get a happy ending]]. In a more minor case, he apparently likes snapping his fingers. — Character Tics
3. Signature Transition: Related to Memetic Hand Gesture.
4. Characters.Austin Powers: Dr. Evil's folder, It wouldn't be Dr. Evil without his trademark pinkie raise. — Character Tics
5. Characters.Fort Boyard: In Père Fouras' folder, When asked how many keys have been won by the contestants, Passe-Partout won't speak the number out, instead making it with his hands. — Character just makes a gesture in general.
6. Characters.Hololive Holostars Japan UPROAR: In Gamma Hizaki's folder, He uses the "Sign of the Horns" emoji (🤟) in almost every single tweet he makes, causing fans to perceive it as his signature hand gesture and mimic him when replying to him or waiting in chat. — A signature hand gesture In-Universe
7. Funny.Persona 5: Joker also has a habit of doing his signature glove pull even when he isn't actually wearing gloves. He gets embarrassed when the other thieves point this out. — Character Tics
8. Characters.Sakura Gakuin: Marina Horiuchi's folder, Wiggles her hands around a lot and/or makes chopping gestures with her arms. Some fans who follow her Kinder TV appearances or other on-camera content watch closely to see if one of her hand-wiggles makes it into the final cut.
   • A late-2019 twitter video has her attempting to promote The Disappearance of Rabbit Island (a play she was cast in) but being distracted by people behind the camera talking to her and getting her so excited that she ends up reduced to babbling and waving her arms for a bit before finishing her spiel, causing everyone else in the room to bust out laughing. — Character Tics
9. Characters.Fire Emblem Recurring Characters: Anna's folder, Usually seen resting her index finger on her face. — Character Tics
10. Characters.Love Chunibyo And Other Delusions: (Yuuta), In his "Dark Flame Master" persona; he covers most of his face with his left hand. — Character Tics
11. Characters.Yurikas Campus Life: (Yurika), She'll spread her fingers downwards and across her face whenever she utters her Catchphrase. — Character Tics
12. Film.Free Guy: One NPC is a victim in a hold-up, and he walks around with his arms constantly in the air. Despite some strong urging from Guy and Millie, he can't bring himself to lower them. — Character Tics
13. Film.Heavy Trip: Under Fingore:' No gore, but, Lotvonen's father had long lost a middle and ring finger on one hand, leaving him perpetually signing the 'horns. — Meaningless since it's unintentional
14. Funny.Baki The Grappler: Right before Yujiro escapes Baki's arm bar by punching him through the concrete, he flashes him an OK sign. One can't help but immediately think of the circle game. — Someone just does a hand gesture once, not a trope
15. Funny.Gen Lock: There's a small bit in the Ether of one looks closely. The animators slipped a random dude dabbing behind Chase. — A memetic dance move used In-Universe
16. Heartwarming.Kamen Rider Fourze: Before Fourze and his friends say goodbye to XIII, he gives his sign of friendship to him. Partially funny since he's doing fist bumps with a Humongous Mecha the size of a house, but it's a Tear Jerker since it's the last time they'll see him for a while. — Vague pothole
17. Heartwarming.Metal Gear Solid 4 Guns Of The Patriots: "Just like your father... '*hand gesture*' You're pretty good!". — Unclear but it seems like it's just used for one-time gesture
18. Music.Baby Metal: The Fox sign is the group's version of the heavy metal horns. — A music group has a signature gesture, not a trope
19. Music.The Wiggles: You'd be hard-pressed to find an Australian child of the nineties or later who doesn't recognize their signature pointing-wiggling. — A music group has a signature gesture, not a trope
20. Heartwarming.Zombillenium: When Francis loses the park to Steven he silently rides down the elevator to hell, he is clearly struggling because he doesn't know how to tell his workers all their effort was for nothing. But he doesn't need to speak, the zombies understand and as a last departing gesture out of respect for their boss, they all rise their hands forming the sign of the horns''. — A hand gesture shows up, not a trope
21. Recap.Mob Psycho 100 S 2 E 9 Show Me What Youve Got: Tōichirō Suzuki's Roman salute. — A hand gesture shows up, not a trope
22. Series.Mashin Sentai Kiramager: Under Actor Allusion: Episode 17 has Juru describe Gigant Driller's transformation (complete with Memetic Hand Gesture) as

    Juru: Takamichi and Drijan have —Ugh!— combined into a titan!

23. Theatre.The Trail To Oregon: Everyone crosses their face with an ominous two fingered hand gesture when they say the phrase "the Bandit King", including the Bandit King. This leads to his Surprisingly Sudden Death. — Not sure where to put this
24. VideoGame.Atlantica Online: The Druid gives his bear a bro fist. — A hand gesture shows up
25. WesternAnimation.My Gym Partners A Monkey: Adam does this hand motion, where he puts both his arms out in front of him, bends them upward by his face and slowly waves them back and forth in anger. What this is never gets explained, but it's not likely this has been used anywhere else, other than the show itself. — A random meaningless gesture appears