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Ask the Tropers:
openRemove from Bad Writing
I intend to remove this from the Bad Writing Index:
- Dull Surprise: Have your characters emote during events that would make a real person do so. Otherwise, it can make scenes that are intended to be dramatic hard to take seriously.
This can be used intentionally to show someone as stoic or unemotional. Any unintentional examples are due to poor art or acting, not writing. All Literature examples are constructive uses arguing it's impossible for it to be bad due to writing alone.
There was discussion here
about cutting game design trope from the index as they're not writing per-say, but stalled out. Should I wait until we have a consensus on that or go ahead and cut Dull Surprise as there are many examples of it being used to desirable effect?
openArguing-against-self Narm entries?
I've noticed on entries for Narm across the wiki (I may even be guilty of it myself, not sure) that they occasionally include lines of explanation. For example, "It's hard to take (insert scene here) seriously when Alice's face is so goofy-looking. Though considering she was just drugged, this might explain why."
Would this be considered arguing against a listed trope? I usually see them added by the original editor, and it seems to have less to do with arguing that "Alice's face" is unintentionally funny and more about it being Justified.
Edited by iamconstantineopenProblematic editor.
Sabbat
has... an issue. He doesn't edit much, but when he does... yeah.
- He deleted an example
of Some Anvils Need to Be Dropped because he thought it was racist... and goes on to elaborate on the discussion page
that saying "white male privilege" is racist, while seemingly unironically claiming that not supporting misogyny and racism is the real racist behavior. Incidentally, the entry was bad, but he's clearly Right for the Wrong Reasons here.
- Also, regarding the same character, he blatantly and explicitly defends his misogynistic behavior in the show's thread
.
- Also, regarding the same character, he blatantly and explicitly defends his misogynistic behavior in the show's thread
- From the same page, misusing narm to stan for an In-Universe low-key racist.
- Adding natter
that downplays homophobia.
- I can't glean the agenda behind this edit because it's so devoid of context
, but it comes across as complaining about a non-straight character.
- Deleting an indirect reference to the Black Lives Matter movement
... and in the process ruining an example of Harsher in Hindsight because it's no longer hindsight.
- Deleting an example for being needlessly inflammatory
... that just happens to point out that violence against black people gets covered up.
He was suspended once
for edit warring over something that "just happened" to "sound" racist.
Almost none of his (post-first ban) actions are bad enough on their own to really warrant me to do anything, but taken as a whole they're worrisome. I don't know (or even necessarily think) that this is actionable on your part (he is, after all, at least participating in the Discussion for better or for worse) but I wanted to flag it for mods.
... also he tends to make entries just bad (Breaking Example Indentation, lacking context, misusing tropes) for the sake of his "agenda")
Edited by LarkmarnopenWhy Locked Star Wars Character Sheets?
Does anyone know why the Star Wars – Resistance Heroes page is locked? Finally got around to seeing The Rise of Skywalker, and I just wanted to add to D-0's character description.
I don't see it listed under Locked Pages. There's a thread for cleaning up the more subjective Star Wars pages, like Narm and What An Idiot, but the character sheets should be relatively safe, I hope? I'm not seeing an Edit War in the history or anything, and the last Discussion comment was back in 2018.
Anybody know what the deal is?
openSnarky Example Undermining Natter in the Transformers Tearjerker Page
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/TearJerker/TheTransformers
- Poor Skyfire. Granted, G1's writing means there is quite a bit of Narm involved, but even so his story is heartwrenching. He was perfectly happy exploring the universe with his best friend... and then he crashed on Earth, spent the following nine million years frozen in the North Pole, was found purely by chance and had about five minutes of happiness at meeting his old friend Starscream again, then found out he was in the middle of a war, was immediately put to work by the Decepticons, realized he was working for the bad guys, got shot by his ex best friend when he refused to kill prisoners, and went down in a Heroic Sacrifice as soon as the good guys fixed him. All of this in a single episode. Poor guy needs a hug.
"We shall remember."
- ...and then he was resurrected 3 episodes later. *Cough*
- Though I suppose you could call that last bit a happy tearjerker?
- Hey, they had Skyf... uhhh... Jetfire toys to sell...
- "The Golden Lagoon". Beachcomber has found a beautiful, Edenic little glade full of wild animals, untouched by the hand of man—and it contains Electrum, a dangerous substance he knows the two sides will fight over if they find out about it. He spends the whole episode trying to prevent it, but the inevitable firefight happens, and both the glade and the Electrum are destroyed. The Autobots cheer because the Decepticons didn't get the stuff. The episode ends with Beachcomber sitting in the blackened crater of the glade, all the plants and animals dead, and mutters, "We won."
- As the standard "happy ending" music continues playing. Not even the soundtrack cared.
I think these tropers (Ha) think they are on Transformers wiki where this is kosher.
openFed up with negativity Film
The Narm.Star Wars, IdiotPlot.Star Wars, and WhatAnIdiot.Star Wars are filled with negativity. That's old news. The problem is that every time someone tries to clean them up, people always add the complaints right back.
I'm making this querry to gather opinions on whether I should ask for a lock on these three pages in order to clean them up. Knowing the SW fanbase, the lock will most likely have to be permanent.
Could I get hear people's thoughts on this motion?
openDragon Quest V Complaning and Misuse of Woolseyism Videogame
Woolseyism: Almost everything has been renamed in the English localization. If you don't dig the Punny Names and the Narm Charm of the localization, this game will be a Macekre for you. Especially if you've already played the much more faithful fan translation of the original SNES game.
I dont know if the Complaining is kosher or not but this is most definitely a misuse of Woolseyism.
openHelp on a YMMV page
The YMMV page for Watchmen here
is suffering from a lot of disagreeing Tropers. I don't watch the show, but it apparently tackles the subject of racism and specifically focuses on the Tulsa Race Riots. Unsurprisingly, tropers are split about how well the topics are handled. S
Daedalus Ex added a Narm entry for the quote "I'e got a nose for racism, and it smells like bleach." Titan Fire Flies added an entry for Don't Shoot the Message. Annoyed Owl added this entry:
- Misaimed Fandom: The entire reason this series was made as stated by the creator was to show how Racism is Bad. Que most of the positive reviews for this series having someone state how this series reminds them why they hate white people.
All of these were deleted by Hello 9876. Titan Fire Flies re-added them with the reason "If these are actual reactions people have had to the show, then they have every right to be on the YMMV page."
friscokid182 deleted the entry for Misaimed Fandom with the edit reason "In addition to being unnecessarily Flame Bait, this entry is a misapplication of Misaimed Fandom. 1) Misaimed Fandom is for instances when audiences enjoy a work (or character) for reasons that the creators didn't intend, not for instances where fans express their love of a work through problematic statements. 2) It's a bit of an overgeneralization to say that all (or even most) positive reviews of this show praise it for making white people look bad; it would be more accurate to say that they praise it for starkly showing the harsh realities of institutionalized racism and racial violence, which is largely perpetrated by white people." They also deleted the Don't Shoot the Message entry with the reason "Mild Artistic License doesn't make the show's anti-racist message less convincing. Even if the show's depiction of the Tulsa Race Riot slightly exaggerates what really happened, the real riot still killed hundreds of people and completely destroyed one of the largest African-American communities in the United States; it's been called the "the single worst incident of racial violence in American history" for a reason. The show captures the truth of what happened pretty well, even if the '''facts aren't identical."
Hello 9876 again deleted the Narm entry. Daedalus Ex re-added Misaimed Fandom with the reason "Perhaps saying "most" is inaccurate, but to simply delete this because of a one word discrepancy when it is still very much relevant is not the proper reaction." They also added an entry for Critical Dissonance, which Hello 9876 deleted because the ratings were caused by review bombings—Hello 9876 then deleted Misaimed Fandom again with the reason "No one is saying this."
So basically the entire page is caught up in one giant edit war and I'm wondering if mods can do anything about this?
Edited by iamconstantineopenVideo Examples
Hey there, I thought of some ideas for good video examples, but I might need help with trying to upload just that specific scene and not the whole work.
Work: My Little Pony: The Movie (2017) Example of: Wham Line
Work: The Phantom Menace Example of: Impaled with Extreme Prejudice
Work: "Lesson Zero" Example of: Nightmare Face
Work: "Heroes and Monsters" Example of: An Arm and a Leg
Work: Return of the Jedi Example of: Shock and Awe
Work: Spaceballs Example of: Luke, I Am Your Father
Work: Attack of the Clones Example of: Big Badass Battle Sequence
Think anyone can either help me or upload these video examples themselves?
openNarm subpages has Flame Bait headers
I may be late in things, but I just noticed that subpages of Narm now has the header seen in Flame Bait page. Has it become categorized as Flame Bait and shouldn't be added in other YMMV pages?
openThe Emoji Movie - Narm Western Animation
After someone removed a lot of shoehorned examples, Narm.The Emoji Movie was left with only two examples. Can we delete the page and move the few valid examples to Narm.Film Number To H and YMMV.The Emoji Movie?
openFridge and Headscratchers from Hellboy: The Golden Army Film
The Headscratchers and the Fridge pages from Hellboy II: The Golden Army are identical, with the only exception that Headscratchers is more clearly-written. Wouldn't it be better to cut one of them (I'd say the Fridge page indeed)?
openOdd page
UsefulNotes.Villain Army was recently made and, well, it doesn't seem to be connected to any work (and the editor may be writing about themselves) or make sense for that matter
the editor also has added examples about it on other pages
openNarm cleanup? Film
Does anyone know if there's there a Narm cleanup thread? I've often seen whiny examples, but Narm.Star Wars really takes the cake (and eats it, and comes back for more).
openLong Term Cleanup Thread for Narm - Discuss
Forgive me if I'm posting this in the wrong place, I'm kind of unclear where to go to suggest this.
In my opinion, Narm could use a dedicated cleanup thread, considering how often it's used for complaining. While some misuse is easy to catch (e.g. saying a joke is Narm when Narm by definition can't be a joke), a lot of examples fall into grey areas that seem like misuse but it's hard to tell. Like nitpicks that at first glance seem to be valid examples, but feel like stretches the more you think about them. Look at the page for, say, Venom (2018).
Thoughts?
Edited by MisterApes-a-lot

Would certain types of crossovers potentially qualify as Too Soon depending on the two franchises crossing over? (i.e. One crossover that I've had in my head for ages (and still have) is the Pre-Volume 3 versions of Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long from RWBY appearing in the universe of the 2D Mortal Kombat games. However, due to the Darker and Edgier turn that the web series had from Volume 3 onward (even including one of the four girls getting dismembered and another being Impaled with Extreme Prejudice) I have a feeling some fans might have this reaction to the four main characters ending up in a universe where fighters slaughter each other in gruesome ways. Not to mention the Fridge Horror that may ensue with those four being children at the ages of 15-17.