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I sent them a unilateral changes notifier. You could ask on Trope Description Improvement Drive
whether the paragraph should be removed.
If that rule really existed, then Karma Houdini Warranty would not be a thing.
While it is a unilateral change, I will admit that I like having that particular rule because it makes the trope more specific, and I feel like it helped cut down on several instances of "I'm putting this in Karma Houdini because I feel like the character didn't get punished enough."
But that's something that should have been brought up in the proper channels rather than just be added to the page.
But something bad happening to them or other wise dosent mean that it was direct karma for their actions. It has to be clear by the narrative that was intended.
Thomas fans needed! Come join me in the the show's cleanup thread!
I've removed the note
New theme music also a box
So I was just looking at Characters.Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team, when I noticed my entry for Karma Houdini vanished. I found out in the edit reason it was "because you can defeat them in a boss fight", per this paragraph that was added to Main.Karma Houdini on September 7th, 2022
by P360360P:
Note to Editors
To avoid this trope from being misused, if even just one bad or horrible thing happens to a villainous character or nasty jerk and/or if it is possible to defeat or kill them in a video game (like, for example, a fighting game if they are a playable character and/or the end boss), then they do not qualify for this trope. Karma Houdinis must have absolutely nothing bad to ever happen to them (and for it to be impossible to attack and defeat them in a video game (see Hopeless Boss Fight) to qualify for this trope.
See, I think this is weird because a character can still be a Karma Houdini even if they're fought in a video game; often times they'll just leave and continue their plans, or their fight actually progressed their plans, or they magically redeem themselves during the story after you fought them. It really just depends on the context of the fight.
Besides that, I don't think this rule was ever established by any consensus or TRS effort to put this distinction on the page, and the troper just added this on their own. The edit reason dosen't exactly help their case:
"I don't know if everyone will agree to this notion, but if something bad happens to an evil character, then they cannot get off scot-free because something bad happens to them or if they have been defeated. It's most especially notable in video games where it's actually possible to defeat them as bosses as long as they aren't Hopeless Boss Fights, so they cannot get off scot-free for that matter either. If anyone feels that this is out of line, speak now or forever hold your peace!"
What should I do here?
Edited by PlasmaPower