I've been Bluelinked
"Phoned it in" is also frequently heard with respect to video game and animated voice acting, especially that involving well-known stars. There are (possibly apocryphal) cases where it was literal; they couldn't get the actor to a studio so they mailed them a script and recorded the phonecall.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"Last Level Letdown? Late Level Letdown?
I cast a vote for Endgame Quality Drop.
I know I (kind of) necro'd this thread, but it hasn't been resolved :c. The name confused me the first time I read it (without having played Half-Life), so I feel that it should be a clearer name for those that haven't played Half-Life.
No, I absolutely never forget my password. And I never have a suspiciously specific denial.Anyway, Late Level Letdown strikes me as a good title.
Do we need a crowner to decide if this needs to be renamed?
On the other hand:
This title has brought 1,343 people to the wiki from non-search engine links since 20th FEB '09.
edited 25th Nov '10 8:11:28 PM by MetaFour
Bah, that's no good....
edited 29th Nov '10 11:38:54 PM by Stratadrake
An Ear Worm is like a Rickroll: It is never going to give you up.I voted for the rename. I like the simplicity of Lame Endgame, though Endgame makes me thing of something like chess. Late Level Letdown and Endgame Quality Drop suit the trope as described quite well - I don't think captures the element of Mood Whiplash that accompanied Xen and similar - Xen was kind of a Gainax Ending.
Which...hmm, really my issue with the trope as described is that it is Xen is a poor example of a simple quality drop - it wasn't shabbier or, I think, more generic...the problem was that it wasn't the game people had been playing most of the way through, it was mostly a lot more low-key, and the end boss didn't have much foreshadowing..any I as recall actually - so he felt like he came out of nowhere.
I'm not a big fan of "This thing was great until most of the way through, when it started to suck" kind of tropes, being pretty subjective. Indeed, I thought Xen was one of the best parts of the game myself.
Yeah, I don't feel like I made any sort of point very well here. Seemed like it was going well most of the way, but I guess I kind of ran out of steam at the end...
edited 3rd Dec '10 9:10:02 AM by MoCellMan
Searching for plausible mechanisms.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowclone
Shorthand: it's using the "form" of another trope title, hopefully because it is useful to borrow some of its meaning. There are good and meaningful snowclones, but many or most are bad for several possible reasons including "apparent cleverness disguises inaccuracy", "incoherent", and plain ol' "sounds bad".
Examples:
Hollywood Darkness, Hollywood Acid, Hollywood Voodoo, in fact every item on the Hollywood Style index, are (good) snowclones of each other / of Hollywood X.
Everythings Better With Monkeys, Everything's Worse with Bears are (good) snowclones of each other.
Flashback Whiplash (YKTTW) is a (kind of lame imo) snowclone of Mood Whiplash.
Our Sirens Are Louder is a (bad) snowclone of Our Werewolves Are Different.
edited 10th Dec '10 4:24:06 PM by rodneyAnonymous
Becky: Who are you? The Mysterious Stranger: An angel. Huck: What's your name? The Mysterious Stranger: Satan.Yet another case where it's stated, over and over again, that the current name is not broken, and evidence is presented that it's not broken, yet people keep simply ignoring this and talking about which alternate names they like, instead of actually even bothering to try and argue that a rename is needed.
Or if you think it needs to be fixed, at least actually try to argue for this, instead of ignoring the question altogether. If the current name is not broken, then it doesn't matter how many awesome names we can all come up with.
Of course now that it's come to a crowner, I suppose we have to see where that goes. Though this is a good time to remind everyone that a rename crowner has to be more than just "somewhat in favour". To rename, you need consensus, which for practical purposes in these threads seems to be defined at something like a 2/3rds "for" vote.
But really,
"Arguments against
- High number of outside referrals.
- No evidence of misuse presented."
That should pretty much be a debate-ender right there.
edited 10th Dec '10 5:32:31 PM by girlyboy
Can we focus on redirects then? It could really use a good one to make searching easier. If the crowner does somehow turn into a rename we can worry about it later. Right now I'd like to be able to google the trope without having to know the name first.
Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. DickI don't really mind that much if it doesn't get renamed, but I do agree that we need some redirects which are more search-friendly.
Disappointing Last Levels? Endgame Developer Fatigue? Rushed Ending? Sloppy Ending?
Accidental mistakes are forgivable, intentional ones are not.
Crown Description:
Do we rename Xen Syndrome? Arguments in favor:- Non-indicative, example-named trope: The name derives from one specific level of one specific videogame, and means nothing to anyone else.
- "X Syndrome" is a discredited naming convention; most snowclones fail the One Mario Limit.
- Subjective Trope; even if you do know the reference, you may or may not consider it an example.
- High number of outside referrals.
- No evidence of misuse presented.
- 111 wicks and 1300+ referrals as of December 2010.

Another vote for Endgame Quality Drop.
What does Phoned In The Last Level actually mean? Is this supposed to be related to outsourcing? A reference I don't get? American slang?
Australia The country with a 2 party system But all the power with independents