Follow TV Tropes

Ask The Tropers

Go To

Have a question about how the TVTropes wiki works? No one knows this community better than the people in it, so ask away! Ask the Tropers is the page you come to when you have a question burning in your brain and the support pages didn't help. It's not for everything, though. For a list of all the resources for your questions, click here. You can also go to this Directory thread for ongoing cleanup projects.

Ask the Tropers:

Trope Related Question:

Make Private (For security bugs or stuff only for moderators)

jawal Since: Sep, 2018
1st Jun, 2023 02:54:53 PM

Have the entry talked instead about Luke surrendering and abandoning the galaxy, I will have agreed with it.

But killing Ben was like a one-second involuntary reaction from Luke, the implication seems that had Ben not wake up at that moment, Luke will have turned off his lightsaber immediately and tried to help Ben instead.

Even saints can have one second of weakness.

So I think the entry does not belong there, but- if it doesn't already exist-maybe a less inflammatory one could be added to the YMMV of TLJ pointing that some fans took the scene bad, because it is indeed a common opinion.

Every Hero has his own way of eating yogurt
Ferot_Dreadnaught Since: Mar, 2015
1st Jun, 2023 05:42:56 PM

Fan-Disliked Explanation is the best fit I found for the complaints, as even the lenient criticisms found it lacking/better handled in prior works and fans were exited to see what caused it until it came out.

Speedchesser Since: Feb, 2012
2nd Jun, 2023 12:02:24 AM

A similar Fan-Disliked Explanation entry is already listed on YMMV.The Last Jedi, so I don't know if any other work needs to be done.

Also, just to shore up consensus since there was only one other reply... yeah, this isn't derailment. There's a bit of a jump, but not exceptionally so given the timeskip that doubles his age.

Edited by Speedchesser
Mariofan99 Since: Jun, 2021
2nd Jun, 2023 04:07:43 AM

If the definition is “failure to explain” then should we delete this entry from the Pokémon anime? Or do you think the explanation is insufficient enough to count as one?

Edited by Mariofan99
AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
2nd Jun, 2023 11:54:05 AM

The issue with the Steve Rogers one is that while he gets a subplot about it, fans still think it was insufficient and an about-face from his previous characterization, so... maybe? I don't know, seems like one of those gray cases.

nrjxll Since: Nov, 2010
2nd Jun, 2023 12:03:56 PM

I think the bigger issue is that as the entry itself says, this is a real point of contention rather than a dominant fan consensus. I support cutting it.

Mariofan99 Since: Jun, 2021
2nd Jun, 2023 01:44:41 PM

There’s also the fact basically 99% of cases of derailment try to provide some in universe justification. It’s just somethings the justification isn’t enough for viewers

dcutter2 Since: Sep, 2013
2nd Jun, 2023 01:58:16 PM

Reading the description for Character Derailment and does it say 'unexplained' anywhere? Just says it's a sudden and drastic change. It contrasts it against organic character growth but that's not quite the same thing.

Ferot_Dreadnaught Since: Mar, 2015
2nd Jun, 2023 02:19:03 PM

^Without the un/insufficiently explained part it's just complaining about changes they don't like which wouldn't be worth keeping.

There's Character Derailment Cleanup. But it's inactive so here's my thoughts.

Team Rocket sounds more like their character traits are just Out of Focus because of their special assignment as opposed to changed/contradicted. A better argument for Derailment is their newfound competence/seriousness as the explanation, being highly focused/thinking it will get their bosses approval, also applied to their prior antics.

Steve Rogers might be an example if it explained how/why the expansion/arc was seen as objectively insufficient to explain/justify the change. It was just about the change being disliked/contentious as written.

And thoughts on why/should Character Derailment allows examples despite most other Flame Bait not?

Edited by Ferot_Dreadnaught
Mariofan99 Since: Jun, 2021
3rd Jun, 2023 06:14:20 AM

If we go with the idea that Derailment doenst count if there’s in-universe justification no matter how unpopular then there’s many entries I question. Should I do it here or on the cleanup thread

Speedchesser Since: Feb, 2012
3rd Jun, 2023 11:18:12 AM

This is getting far beyond the scope of the original question. That said...

I think dcutter2 had it right. An explanation helps, but a bad explanation (or even a badly-executed one) can still feel unnatural. Feeling fake is the problem, not likability or justification.

And ^^: Plenty of Flame Bait tropes have on-page examples (see the Example Sectionectomy section about Flame Bait). Definition-Only Pages are a different category, and most of the overlap involves either Mary Sue tropes or tropes complaining about a fandom/hatedom.

Edited by Speedchesser
Ferot_Dreadnaught Since: Mar, 2015
3rd Jun, 2023 01:19:59 PM

^That is the best explanation I've seen for Character Derailment allowing examples. Other Flame Bait amounts to hatedom/attacks on fandom but not this (The Scrappy is allowed because it requires their haters be otherwise unironic fans of the work).

AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
3rd Jun, 2023 08:31:41 PM

In that case, I can help rewrite the Steve Rogers example, as it's unpopular enough that even recently we had plenty of people in the forums go in great detail about why they felt it was derailing.

How does this sound?

  • Avengers: Endgame - or more specifically, the plot point of Steve Rogers deciding he'd rather stay in the past - is infamously one of the most divisive aspects of the film in part due to how it came off as an example of this. Many fans felt that his subplot in this film about his overwhelming desire to reunite with Peggy is a hasty about-face after previous films placed a lot of emphasis on his desire to adjust to the modern era and his efforts at finding a Second Love in Sharon Carter, who is inexplicably absent from the film, and after every past appearance of his focused on his efforts to rescue and help his best friend Bucky, whereas in this film he makes the decision to leave the now-heartbroken Bucky completely offscreen.

While there is a fair amount of serious speculation, in fact a lot more than the usual shipper whinging, that the change was a result of Disney having a Gay Panic because too many people saw Steve Rogers as Ambiguously Bi, and Character Derailment is an Audience Reaction IIRC, I'm not sure if I should bring that up somewhere or if it's too speculative and inviting of vandalism or defensive editing.

Edit: Alright, done and cited.

Edited by AlleyOop
Ferot_Dreadnaught Since: Mar, 2015
3rd Jun, 2023 08:59:42 PM

^That looks good. Go ahead and add.

nrjxll Since: Nov, 2010
3rd Jun, 2023 10:20:14 PM

Frankly, I still think the example should be cut on the grounds of it being more of a Broken Base than a dominant fan consensus, although I avoid fandom circles in general and am just going on what I've seen on TV Tropes itself. (I mean, even the rewritten version's calling it 'divisive').

Edited by nrjxll
Ferot_Dreadnaught Since: Mar, 2015
3rd Jun, 2023 11:40:54 PM

CD states it doesn't have to be badly received, and other audience reactions (like Unintentionally Unsympathetic) allow Broken Base as opposed to just widespread opinions.

I asked cleanup on if CD needs more than BB on the matter to count. But if we need to quantity amounts of dislike/lack widely accepted distinction from other character change tropes combined with Ass Pull than that's when I'd say it get's too contentious to be worth keeping (like what happened to Idiot Plot).

nrjxll Since: Nov, 2010
4th Jun, 2023 12:46:04 AM

But I mean, it's already that in literally all usage I've ever seen. Bringing that part to the cleanup thread, because it does not seem okay.

Top