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 is for:
- • General questions about the wiki, how it works, and how to do things.
- • Reports of problems with wiki articles, or requests for help with wiki articles.
- • Reports of misbehavior or abuse by other tropers.
Ask the Tropers is not for:
- • Help identifying a trope. See TropeFinder.
- • Help identifying a work. See MediaFinder.
- • Asking if a trope example is valid. See the Trope Talk forum.
- • Proposing new tropes. See TropeLaunchPad.
- • Making bug reports. See QueryBugs.
- • Asking for new wiki features. See QueryWishlist.
- • Chatting with other tropers. See our forums.
- • Reporting problems with advertisements. See this forum topic.
- • Reporting issues on the forums. Send a Holler instead.
Ask the Tropers:
openTearJerker.Mutts query Print Comic
TearJerker.Mutts has had some odd edits, with WandaBaby1990 adding an example for the Guard Dog story, then deleting it with a 'see below' edit in a later post which leads to nothing. I thought it had been deleted by accident, so I restored the deleted entry and also added context for the conclusion of the story, which is both heartbreaking and sweet, but they recently deleted the conclusion entry.
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/article_history.php?article=TearJerker.Mutts&page=1
open Edit war in Characters.TeenTitans and subpages Print Comic
Elio Herondale has been adding red links to Characters.Teen Titans and its subpages for character-specific pages — Characters.Teen Titans Lilith Clay, Characters.Teen Titans Mal Duncan, et cetera — since Jan 9th 2024 (as far as I know). On Feb 1st 2024 I deleted those red links, since all the characters for whom those red links were created have profiles in other pages — for example, Characters.Teen Titans Original Teen Titans for those two red links. ElioHerondale re-added those links that same day.
I left the matter alone until today, when I messaged them about their reasoning for creating character-specific pages for very short profiles, but they seem hostile and uninterested in discussing the matter. I can accept being in the wrong in this case, but since Elio Herondale added and then re-added those links, I think I should have reported this as an edit war much sooner.
(As an aside, is there a specific forum for reporting edit wars?)
openQuestion regarding a work I’m creating a page for Print Comic
So, something is revealed at the end of the first issue of a comic book. This is important for the rest of the comic and you cannot explain the plot of a single issue without spoiling this very minor twist that is already pretty much part of the basic premise. Should I put spoilers on every mention of this reveal?
openJay Garrick: The Flash Print Comic
For some reason, edits to Jay Garrick: The Flash aren't being reflected on my "Followed Pages" list, even though I'm following the page and even though I just made an edit to the page a few minutes ago. In theory, it should be at the top of my "Followed Pages" list, but it's on the second page, and according to the list, its most recent edit was November 23rd. I've checked the work page itself and the its edit history, and those are both up-to-date. Is this a known bug?
openGrace Choi Print Comic
Been working on splitting off the 2003 Outsiders series to its own page, and when I was setting up the redirect for the character sheet, I noticed that Grace Choi's tropes are listed on the Black Lightning character sheet instead of the Outsiders one. Why is that? To my knowledge, she's only ever been affiliated with the Outsiders.
openTroper changed formatting for no reason Print Comic
On Inferno Girl Red, Tropers/Sidapa changed the formatting from "[Codename] ([Real Name])" to "[Codename]/[Real Name] for no reason (as well as spoiler tagging a title). All the other Massive-Verse character pages still use the first format, and in my opinion it just makes perfectly clear what a person's codename and real name are. I messaged them about changing it back, since there was no reason to change the format on IGR's page, but they never responded. I did a quick search on here and only just learned that they are suspended from P Ms.
Is it okay for me to change it back to the previous format without getting into an edit war?
openWrong Page Image Print Comic
Gate Star X went and added a page image for The Vigilant that is from an entirely different series. Can I just go ahead and replace it with an image from the correct series, or do I have to go through the whole Image-Picking Thread first?
Edited by StrixObscuroopenHow to format numbered bullets to not start over under a new header? Print Comic
Example: I have Sandbox.Bo Boi Boy Galaxy Season 2 in the (gradual) works, I'm considering listing the issues/episodes under either arcs or volumes, as listed at the bottom of the sandbox.
The issue is that when I place a header between two episode titles, the bullet numbers start over, when I'd like for them to still list from 1 to 27.
Is there a formatting trick to make this possible?
Edited by BlackFaithStaropenShould the IDW Transformers Character Pages be reorganized? Print Comic
The The Transformers (IDW) entry is one of the longest running comic entries in the franchise, and many of the titles under it have been given pages. Several of those works have also been given character pages, and those pages have been given sub-pages. Most of the main ones have been documented on the "Hasbro Comic Universe" character page, but their sub-pages haven't. The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye for instance has 11 subpages, while The Transformers: Robots in Disguise has 2 subpages. What's more though is that several pages are filled with either duplicate entries that are either identical to each other, or list a redirect but also list tropes for that specific work.
- The Transformers More Than Meets The Eye Other Characters for example lists Starscream, Rattrap, Overlord, and Soundwave as redirects.
- Or how half the characters on The Transformers: Till All Are One are already listed on The Transformers: Robots in Disguise, despite literally being the same iterations of the character.
Hasbro IDW Universe:
- The Transformers
- Autobots
- Luna 1
- The Wreckers
- Decepticons
- Decepticon Justice Division
- Cybertron / Colonies
- The Lost Light
- Team Rodimus
- Autobots
- Earth (Would include other properties without pages like the Micronauts and M.A.S.K.)
- Action Man
- G.I. Joe
- Gem and the Holograms
- Others
Edited by RebelFalcon
openDoes this qualify as a stub? (Fall of X) Print Comic
ComicBook.Fall Of X has just been created. It's covering a set of linked works (for Marvel's X-Men comics) which comprise a larger Bat Family Crossover or Crisis Crossover arc.
It's listing the different works and has an intro that talks about the arc as a whole.
It's currently got just two tropes.
So... is it a stub? Or is it exempt from that rule because it's a list of related works as well as a thing in its own right?
openEdit War - ComicBook.RedGoblin Print Comic
Possibly confusion on both sides for this one, but it's turned into an edit war.
- Nonentity Z added a second bullet to Mythology Gag on 16th July.
- I deleted it today, partly because I didn't fully understand the point they were trying to make
- NonentityZ added it back today, with an edit reason saying it was a valid example.
There may be a question to be answered about whether a reference to a Marvel Alternate Universe is really a Continuity Nod or a Mythology Gag (when it's acknowledged as part of continuity and characters can travel to/from it for Bat Family Crossovers, I personally think it's a Continuity Nod), but that shouldn't be an edit reason argument.
Edit: link fix
Edited by Mrph1openDeath's Head: seeking consensus to revert changes after fact check Print Comic
Two Marvel Comics pages, ComicBook.Deaths Head and Trivia.Deaths Head, have some 'detective work' statements/examples added by DaPolicia regarding the character's creation and copyright status. The same claims were added to The Other Wiki's page for the character.
These are largely updates to examples and text I previously edited or added, so I don't want to revert them myself (and start an edit war) without a consensus.
This is the core claim they've added:
- Pop-Culture Urban Legends: Multiple sources, including Simon Furman himself, allege that Marvel maintained Death's Head's rights by rushing out a one-page comic (commonly referred to as "High Noon Tex" after a line spoken by Death's Head in the strip) that was featured in various other Marvel UK comics before his Transformers debut, circumventing the company's agreement with Hasbro. However, artist Bryan Hitch's signature in the final panel reads "Hitch '88", indicating that it wasn't drawn until the year after Death's Head debuted in Transformers, and there's no actual indication that the strip was published until May of 1988, meaning that Marvel likely engaged in some other chicanery to keep Hasbro away from Death's Head.
The collected edition introduction directly states that "High Noon Tex" was created to secure copyright. There's a photo of the relevant statements here◊ for anyone who want to read it.
IANAL, but as I understand it UK copyright law is based on evidence of creation, not just widespread publication. Ashcan Copy logic allows the creation of a quick, sketchy version of the work or character to confirm ownership. The intro says it was "subsequently" published and I don't think a 1988 signature on the final/published work is a "Gotcha!" to show the creators are lying.
With that in mind I'd like to:
- Cut Pop-Culture Urban Legends entirely
- Cut the "if Marvel hadn't done whatever they did" element from What Could Have Been, which also casts doubt on Marvel's claims.
- Cut the whole "A commonly-circulated story, corroborated by both Furman and artist Bryan Hitch and perpetuated by sources like This Very Wiki" section that was added to the ComicBook.Deaths Head intro, which casts doubt on the intro's original brief factual statement about the character's creation.
Even if there's more to the story than the official sources suggest, and Marvel isn't telling the complete and accurate history, I don't think it's our place to speculate in this way.
(If we get an official on-the-record statement from the company or creators that contradicts the original printed statements, that would be different)
Does that sound fair?
Edited by Mrph1openAdding tropes to a page for an earlier installment (X-Cellent) Print Comic
Bringing this one back to ATT as we've failed to reach an immediate consensus on forums - and we now have a disagreement on how to proceed until we do have a consensus.
Marvel's 2022 comic book miniseries X-Cellent was followed by / relaunched as 2023's miniseries The X-Cellent (Recycled Titles, especially character/team titles, are pretty standard for Marvel). That second series is still an ongoing work.
Over the last year or two the prevailing approach has been to create a new page (or, at the very least, a soft split) for comic relaunches of this nature, but StrixObscuro made the point that it may be close enough to the original to be handled as a single work, adding that "I see no reason why we should humor Marvel's cynical relaunches" note The 2023 series has the same creators and directly continues the same arc, and Marvel have directly referred to it as both a Sequel Series and "Season Two". It is treated as a different series on their own indexes (e.g. marvel.com and digital comic apps) and doesn't continue the first series' numbering.
As there was no consensus for an immediate merge, the agreement by default became to wait and see how this progresses, then revisit it when the work's complete, or at least less incomplete - e.g. is it going to get a third installment and how will it be handled for collected editions? We can then make a more informed decision to merge or not.
However, we still seem to have a difference of opinion on how we act in the interim - StrixObscuro has added examples for characters and events from the 2023 sequel to the 2022 series's page.
I moved them over to the 2023 page, not realising this had been a deliberate choice, on the basis that until/unless we merge, tropers wouldn't expect to hit spoilers (tagged or otherwise) or plot details for the new series on the previous installment's works page.
StrixObscuro then challenged that, saying that their view is that we should continue to update it with tropes from both series "until consensus finally and definitively decides that the two pages should remain split".
Can we get a steer on this aspect? I think we've dropped into entrenched positions on this one (and the Marvel cleanup thread's been pretty quiet), so I don't think we're going to resolve it ourselves.
For context, the original ATT is here, and the original cleanup thread discussion starts here.
Edited by Mrph1openPossible edit war - Trivia/TheAmazingSpiderMan2022 Print Comic
Does this count as an edit war? Over on The Amazing Spider-Man (2022) - note that links contain spoilers.
This was the example before the recent leaks:
- Why Fandom Can't Have Nice Things: Zeb Wells has said that he'll be avoiding conventions due to the controversy expected to result from some the last issues of the run.
After the first of the recent Content Leaks was confirmed as genuine by Marvel, KingClark added an update to say that this must be because of a particular character death revealed by the leak.
(No source cited for that, and it's since been suggested that this isn't the end of the run, with Wells talking about his next year on the book)
I rephrased it a little with the edit reason "Still scope for more twists, and it hasn't happened yet" - as of today, the issue the leaks are from is still unpublished.
KingClark has now largely reverted that edit, returning it to a definite statement that it's because of the issue and this death.
Does that count as an edit war?
I'd like to revert it again, at least until the issue is published and/or we have a clear statement from Wells about what he meant by the original comment - but that would definitely be an edit war if done without consensus, so I'm holding fire.
Edited by Mrph1openNo spoilers on a recap page... Print Comic
The rule that no part of a recap should be spoilered isn't valid just for episodes of a TV series, right?
Full albums of a comic-book series having their own recap pages are concerned too, I guess...
I'm asking because I noted that Asterix and the Griffin has lot of spoilered text.
Edited by StFanopenAvoiding potential edit war - AssPull/ShockingSwerve example (Spider-Man 2022) Print Comic
Checking here before making any further edits, as I don't want to start an edit war:
As part of the wider cleanup on YMMV.Spider Man 2022 (complaining, Content Leak etc.), I cut two Ass Pull examples after seeking a second opinion about one on the AssPull cleanup thread. The thread's pretty quiet and there wasn't enough feedback there for a real consensus, but it seemed to confirm my doubts about the example.
I left an edit reason suggesting that if tropers did want to add the same examples back,"Please check with the cleanup thread before reinstating".
KaneChin89 (who's been active for years but only has a single page edit history for that time) has now added one of the examples back (with an exact copy/paste of the old wording) under Shocking Swerve, which is just a redirect to Ass Pull. There's no edit reason and no cleanup thread post.
(The example was originally added by PhyrexianAjani95, then heavily rewritten by nsommer659 - KaneChin89 hasn't edited it before)
Am I ok to delete it again? (I'll also link to this ATT on the cleanup thread, but - as before - not sure it'll get enough replies for a consensus there).
For context, this is the example:
- Shocking Swerve: The Reveal in #25 that Paul and MJ's kids are adoptive and just so happen to look like them. People immediately speculated that this was Marvel's attempt at an Author's Saving Throw because of the sheer amount of negative reception the plotline has been getting. The hint that her feelings for Paul are artificial as the result of a curse by Rabin also comes across as less something preplanned and more the writers trying to please the fans after all hate hoisted on the storyline.
openContent leak issue - Spider-Man Print Comic
As mentioned here, here and here, we've had some issues with today's Spider-Man content leak, revealing a "shocking twist" in a comic to be released later this month. As the comic is due to be followed by a special Fallen Friend (final title embargoed) issue, the assumption was that it involved a major character death.
As per mod guidance from Synchronicity, I added a comment to some of the relevant pages warning tropers not to add leaked content.
Later today, hours after the initial leaked pictures made it onto the internet, Entertainment Weekly published it as an 'exclusive' scoop with clearer images. They also revealed the cover and final title of the Fallen Friend one-shot.
At this point there is no such announcement on marvel.com and it's unclear how 'official' that EW exclusive is, as Marvel had previously said all details were embargoed until end of month. There are certainly no Marvel quotes/comments within the EW article, and there's nothing about it on Marvel's own site yet.
However, Magi Mecha has now:
- Deleted the content leak comment from YMMV.The Amazing Spider Man 2022 and troped it there (spoiler tagging used), edit reason "Cat's out of the bag"
- Deleted the content leak comment from ComicBook.The Amazing Spider Man 2022, edit reason "Cat's out of the bag"
- Deleted the content leak comment from Trivia.The Amazing Spider Man 2022 and updated the Content Leak example to add details and a link, saying " Ultimately, Marvel, via Entertainment Weekly, revealed the shocking death to be [spoiler tagged name]". Edit reason is the EW link, with the character death confirmed in the URL.
- Edited the character's own Characters page (spoiler:Marvel Comics: Kamala Khan) to add the full title of the Fallen Friend special comic, spoiler tagged in a "Notable Comics" list above the line (which I think is in breach of spoiler policy?).
Where do we stand on this? It was clearly an unwanted/unofficial leak earlier today (with Marvel warning fans to avoid spoilers just a couple of hours ago), and although EW's scoop looked a lot more professional, there was nothing to directly say it was with the creator's permission.
Do we accept that the cat really is out of the bag, and let some of these edits stand? (I'm assuming the spoiler tagged title on the Characters page needs to go, either way)
UPDATE: Marvel themselves have finally given in and announced it, with an article on their site. Spoilers, of course. So it looks like the EW story was with their backing.
I guess some of the same questions remain, though - and some of the usual Creating a Work Page for an Upcoming Work considerations will apply to how we cover an unreleased instalment?
Edited by Mrph1openImage in Trivia page Print Comic
Trivia.Wonder Woman 1942 has an image on it, which no other Trivia page has. I'm pretty sure that Trivia pages aren't allowed to have images at all. Is it okay to remove it?
openIndigogo Links Print Comic
I am doing pages for several works but it's available through Indigogo. Am I allowed to post Indigogo links?
Edited by Synchronicity
Asking here cause I'm not sure where it should be suggested on the site.
I think there needs to be a new category for graphic novels as their own sort of genre index under the main Comic Books — as there's been a lot of them listed on the site, such as stand alone and/or middle grade style graphic novels. Where would I make this suggestion? Or is it something I run through TLP since it would be a main akin to Film Comic?
Edited by Nethilia