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:
resolved Weird example Videogame
I didn't know where to put this so I put it here.
While wandering around this site I found this example on YMMV.My Singing Monsters:
- Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: When Party Island was released some monsters like Furcorn & Kayna were suddenly given the ability to speak & sing in English.
Not only this seems to be BLAM misuse, but it also has grammar issues.
resolved Touhou Kaeidzuka's Straw Nihilist / Nietzsche Wannabe problem (possible trope misuse) Videogame
Hello Tropers! I found under the page of Touhou Kaeidzuka ~ Phantasmagoria of Flower View that there is a presence of a redirect to Straw Nihilist under the name "Nietzsche Wannabe". It's not a red link, but it's a redirect because of the trope rename. I'm not sure whether that an edit over this is constructive or not. Looking forward to the response.
Edited by JustNormalMusicLoverresolved Rewriting Walkthrough Mode Page Videogame
Here's the summary of Walkthrough Mode:
For example, let's say Alice adds the Puppy Stomper 3000 to That One Boss. Bob follows this up by stating, "Actually, the Puppy Stomper isn't tough if you have the Ring of Puppy Protection, which only requires you to do X, Y and Z." Then Clara comes by and adds, "To be fair, you need Sven in your party to use the Ring of Puppy Protection. It's easier to use the Stick of Puppy Protection, which only requires you to bring the Ring of Puppy Protection to the Ring Transumation Fairy in Scary Town."
Using the example from the above paragraph, here's what it looks like on a page.
- That One Boss: Puppy Stomper 3000 is hard because of blah blah.
- Actually, the Puppy Stomper isn't tough if you have the Ring of Puppy Protection, which only requires you to do X, Y and Z.
- To be fair, you need Sven in your party to use the Ring of Puppy Protection. It's easier to use the Stick of Puppy Protection, which only requires you to bring the Ring of Puppy Protection to the Ring Transumation Fairy in Scary Town.
- Actually, the Puppy Stomper isn't tough if you have the Ring of Puppy Protection, which only requires you to do X, Y and Z.
The first two paragraphs basically describe a videogame mechanics-themed version of Thread Mode, which... editors shouldn't do either, but if all the page has to say is "don't thread mode about game mechanics", it probably doesn't need to exist — just point to Thread Mode instead.
To my understanding, what Walkthrough Mode should tell readers is that they should avoid cluttering examples with numbers, niche mechanics, and long-winded guides that are only tangentially relevant to how there is an example of a trope — this is suggested to me by that last paragraph. Here's a version I think could work, which emphasizes that:
For example, let's say Alice lists the Puppy Stompertron as an example of That One Boss, engaging in Walkthrough Mode to do so:
- That One Boss: The Puppy Stompertron appears at the end of the Puppy Factory and presents a massive roadblock to the player. It's got a massive 70,000 HP health bar (by the end of the factory, you'll be dealing 300 DPS at best), has immunity to Bleed, Stun, Dizzy, Confuse, and Love, and all of its attacks are That One Attack. Puppy Squishing deals 10,000 damage and can only be survived with the Anti-Ten Thousand Medal from the Numbers Swamp, Puppy Flamethrowing is supposed to deal only 40 damage to the player once but a bug with the level geometry can cause the flames to deal 400 damage if the player's standing on the many hills around the arena, and the Dog Food Ingester will heal it back to full unless the player has done the sidequest to obtain Dog Food Poison, which is easily missable at the start of the game. The only thing that can make this easy is the Puppy Stompertron Control Device to cut its HP in half, which is only available to builds that use the Dagger of Air Vent Entry, a 37 Charisma build to take it from the Puppy Factory Foreman (you can't go with any other level of Charisma, he starts liking you too much if you do), or a glitched maximum Speed character to clip through the northeast locked door and access the room where it's stored.
As you can see, this entry is hard to read because it's loaded with tangents on whole-game strategies and numbers that mean nothing to an outsider, when all that's needed is to explain how the Puppy Stompertron boss is harder than the rest of the game. Let's see an example that does just that:
- That One Boss: The Puppy Stompertron appears at the end of the Puppy Factory and presents a massive roadblock to the player. It has massive HP for that point at the game, immunity to many of the useful status effects, and all of its attacks are That One Attack — dealing massive damage or healing itself to full. The only ways to get past it painlessly involve highly-specific strategies and/or exploiting glitches, neither of which are available to every character class.
This entry is much more succinct in stating why the Puppy Stompertron is an example of That One Boss: it has high stats, immunity to statuses, powerful attacks, and the mechanics to make it easier aren't universally applicable. By cutting out details, the example becomes easier to read and digestible, yet the non-Walkthrough Mode entry still manages to communicate key points on why the Puppy Stompertron is this trope.
As a side bonus, when talking about games that are receiving post-launch updates, avoiding exact numbers gives a degree of futureproofing. In many games, if a change needs to be made, the numbers are usually first to be adjusted, so if the Puppy Stompertron ever has its HP or damage values changed this way, the example doesn't suddenly need an update to correct those parts.
While it is understandable why Walkthrough Mode happens, wiki articles are not walkthroughs for how to beat That One Boss or That One Level. Trope examples should be generic enough that those who aren't familiar with the game can understand them, and shouldn't be cluttered with something like the exact attack strength of a weapon or helpful asides about which two of the three Superbosses can be affected by the Game-Breaker. This isn't to say that you shouldn't list your example with little to no information, which is the opposite problem; you just need to explain why your example is that of the trope in question in a way that's digestible to the average reader.
See also Word Cruft, another writing element that makes examples bloated and indigestible by adding too many unnecessary words.
Does this look good to use on the page?
Edited by Pyhrrousresolved Pronoun Confusion Videogame
I noticed on the tropes page for Oakwood that Madison and at least one other character that I'm reasonably certain is a girl are referred to by 'they' type pronouns. I was wondering if there was any specific reason for that? I just felt I'd ask since I'm genuinely curious (though admittedly tempted to change the pronouns).
resolved Should we prioritize Canon Names for protagonists that can be named anything by the player? Videogame
What's the standard here? In I Was a Teenage Exocolonist, the game suggests naming your character Solane/Solana/Solanaceae, implying that either of the three's their Canon Name if you don't name them yourself. However, in all its pages, they have been referred to as either "Sol", "the protagonist", "the MC", or "you". Do we stick to one name/identifier for them, or are all of them "correct"?
resolved Is this actually a Headscratcher? Videogame
The Headscratchers page for Patapon is just a single entry saying that they hate that the game has no pause function, and all of the bullets under it are closer to something you'd see under Discussion.
This seems to me like less of a Headscratcher and more like an It Just Bugs Me page that survived the name change. I'm not crazy right? It's not even worded like a question and only one of the "replies" answers it.
resolved Should the Meta folder in Undertale's Tear Jerker page be removed? Videogame
TearJerker.Undertale still has the meta folder, but meta examples aren't allowed for Moment pages, right?
Edited by TroperNo9001resolved Non-YMMV trope in YMMV page: Final Fantasy Legend II Videogame
...And I thought it wouldn't ever happen again, but it does:
In the page YMMV.Final Fantasy Legend II, Nintendo Hard is listed there. Speaking of which, Video Games difficulty might be subjective between players, but if a lot of players see the Video Game with trope page in this site is seen as hard, it would been listed in the main page, rather than the YMMV.
Oddly enough, the trope has been there from the creation of the YMMV page, which is relatively new compared to the main Video Game page itself, and created in January 2021, likely to make out a separate YMMV page for Final Fantasy Legend II).
What will I do?
EDIT: As of this TRS thread
, apparently the decision of Nintendo Hard being subjective has resulted it in being moved to YMMV trope. So I guess it's fine to move it back to YMMV. And this is after I self-locked the query by marking it as Resolved! Dang it.
resolved Permission to re-delete an example Videogame
On Trails Series Erebonia Thors Class VII Original, I removed a Jerk with a Heart of Gold entry on Sara since I don't recall her being a jerk at all in the first two games, tho it's worth mentioning that I did state to re-add the example if I'm wrong. User Joe Devaney 29 later added it back with this edit reason:
Since the edit reason made me question whether she really fits the Trope, I asked on the "Is this an example
" thread, and I was told that if an example doesn't fit, it just doesn't.
I would delete, but since I deleted earlier, that would make it an edit war. So I wanted to ask if I can delete again.
Edited by Ayumi-chanresolved Is Natter allowed on WMG pages? Videogame
Something that makes me wonder is that I have often seen Natter come into play on WMG pages. For instance, the WMG page on Skyrim has several theories listed about the Civil War and what the possible analogue for the Stormcloaks might be and the first one is full of natter (specifically, someone tries to debunk several points made in the theory). Is this allowed? Or should this be trimmed/removed?
Edited by SimonTroperesolved Shall we place Adventurers' Guild under Snezhnaya in ''Genshin Impact''? Videogame
Adventurers' Guild is a transnational organization based in Snezhnaya, like Fatui.
resolved Need help placing example. Videogame
I want to write a Come for the Game, Stay for the Mods entry for Rain World, and in that trope page folders are seperated by game genre. The thing is, Rain World is described in its own page as "Speculative Biology-themed exploration game", and that "Gameplay can be described as a Cinematic Platform Game with Survival Horror elements in a Metroidvania style map. It also relies quite a bit on Emergent Gameplay and Immersive Sim elements". I've also seen people online describe it as an ecosystem simulator, and that the idea behimd its development was to make a platformer with unique mechanics.
Where do I put this???
resolved I Expect You To Die Quotes misuse Videogame
Currently, the IEYTD Quotes page consists full lyrics of the games' intro songs and pretty much most of the mission dialogue in all three games.
Speaking as a lurker who only pointed out misuse for the first time ever, what other actions should I take other than posting a query here?
Edited by Duy03resolved Papyrus char page (undertale) Videogame
How do i make a self demonstrating article for him? Sans has one so i feel like Papyrus deserves one too.
resolved Funny Moments Page (Lack Of) Image Videogame
While doing a bit of a wiki walk on the site this morning I ended up at Funny.Super Mario Galaxy 2 and noticed that the "image" is just an external link that I'm not going to click to see where it goes.
That brings up 2 questions. 1. Permission to remove? 2. Would submitting a new one (whether or not the current one is removed) require an IP thread?
resolved Linking to game analysis sites Videogame
On the Genshin Impact Gamebreaker page, there are links to the analysis site Keqingmains for every character entry. These lead to a how-to-build guide for the character, along with explanations on how to best use them and other data. These were originally added to validate why the characters were chosen as gamebreakers, and to cut down on the "walkthrough-mode" the page was becoming as tropers were adding everything to do with the character's gameplay and not just the gamebreaking part.
Personally, I think they should all be cut. For starters I don't know if such egregious promotion of a fansite is against Tv Tropes policy or not (even if it is considered an authority in the community, think of it like Smogon for Pokemon). But disregarding if it's legal, the characters are only added after some group discussion and the character guides linked show how best to use the character regardless of if they're high or low tier. So I don't see how that "validates" the gamebreaker decisions, or if that's even necessary. As for walkthrough-mode, tropers shouldn't be doing that in the first place so I don't know why we compromised instead of just cracking down harder that this is a media wiki and not a player's guide.
I've attempted to discuss removing them but have not received much feedback from the other tropers writing these gamebreaker entries, save for one very vocal troper that's adamantly against removing the Keqingmains links. So I came here for more opinions, as I don't feel comfortable making a sweeping change to the entire page without somebody to back me up on that.
resolved The Image Files are Too Small? Videogame
This is gonna be a super long and detailed question to ask but here me out:
Transparentanswer
and I have been working together to fix the Ensemble Stars! pages for a while now, however I am experiencing a problem when placing new images.
I have been editing the character sheet for idol unit Eden for a while now as it uses outdated images of the characters and want to replace them with images of their current appearances (The Eve members Hiyori
◊ and Jun
◊ use their old subunit outfits from the first game while Adam uses their school uniforms and not their old subunit
◊ outfits?
◊).
I have uploaded the current appearances of the characters onto my Sandbox as a test but I still want to use the subunit images (under a "click here" button), kind of like how the character sheets for Project SEKAI still use the current and debut appearances of their cast.
I have downloaded the new subunit images from the FANDOM
wiki (I clicked on Hiyori, Jun, Nagisa, and Ibara's articles on there) but when I try to put the subunit images onto my Sandbox, I get a message saying that the images are too small to fit onto the page? I thought the images were just fine when I downloaded them? Is there a way to fix this?

I know this haven't been touched in a while, but the Bittersweet Ending trope wick example in MARDEK seems to have, problems.
Approaches Downer Ending when you realize that Qualna was lying about wanting to use the Violet Crystal for good, but only because the other Governors were watching - he was trying to sneak Rohoph back to their planet in order to help him destroy the Crystal. And it turns out that Rohoph had been corrupted by the Crystal from the start into becoming a paranoid Knight Templar, and he no longer has qualms about forcibly taking over Mardek's body at times. Oh, and the world is slowly dying thanks to the crystals being removed from their temples, and Rohoph's presence might be slowly killing Mardek. Absolutely nothing you did in this chapter has accomplished anything good.
Downer status further solidified by a lot of things that seem minor in Chapter 3 but would have come back to bite the good guys in the ass in later chapters: Steele/"The Mysterious Man" still has the dark crystal; Blatantly Evil Chancellor had control of Xantusia while Ss'lenck was away; you gave a fragment or relative of the Violet Crystal to Vudu, the probably already evil high priest of YALORT; and oh yeah, there's this volcano which could wipe out most of the life on Belfan if it erupted, and the next Magus coming after you is the pyromancer of the group. Really, the only good things that you did in this game were making your party members feel good about themselves by listening to them talk about their problems, and driving away Saul and Muriance (probably temporarily). Well, and destroying the Annihilator, if you did that.