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Honestly, that seems like a much broader problem than just tropers. I've heard/read reasoned arguments on why yaoi and yuri fanfiction (man/man and woman/woman, respectively) could actually be considered rather harmful to gays in the same way that a fanservice character is to feminism and women in general: it encourages objectifying them into fuckbuddies that happen to be of the same gender, and making that their sole defining trait.
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Dec 20, 2013 09:32
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Part of me really wants to go to that villain thread, and just give them a test. Disguise a villain from a slightly obscure classic they're not familiar with, or throw them one of my own characters that I know is decent by actually knowing poo poo about writing, and just... see how they do with it. See if they unintentionally trundle into some good ideas, or if their intended improvements end up ruining what makes the character work.
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Dec 20, 2013 09:55
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Cleretic posted:Part of me really wants to go to that villain thread, and just give them a test. Disguise a villain from a slightly obscure classic they're not familiar with, or throw them one of my own characters that I know is decent by actually knowing poo poo about writing, and just... see how they do with it. See if they unintentionally trundle into some good ideas, or if their intended improvements end up ruining what makes the character work. It would be rather fascinating but just not possible for us to do.
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Dec 20, 2013 10:18
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crowfeathers posted:here's a hero: How does this work? How can you be fearless, but still lack the guts to make a stand and avoid eyecontact? Though eyecontact avoidance doesn't have to do with a lack of guts, considering how it's both there it's probably related. Unless it's tropers writing what they "know", they're all  after all.crowfeathers posted:I like that they list and explain all the tropes they used. Because that's how you build a character, you see. Is this where we slot in the rape?
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Dec 20, 2013 14:49
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I bet if you asked one of these Tropers what their hero’s “fatal” flaw was, the one thing that could be exploited, their answer would just be a blank stare. Not only do these characters lack any strengths outside of “long coat and katana,” but there’s nothing there a bad guy could exploit to build up any sort of drama or tension in their stories…well, outside of a girlfriend or crush to be kidnapped and raped. One of the best pieces of advice I ever got for writing was “when you come up with a main character, hero or villain, make sure they have a significant flaw.” It gives the character motivation or a reason to do what they do…or to NOT do anything, which could be just as dramatic in the right hands. In the book I’m trying to write (hey, thanks to this thread I'm actually halfway done with the first draft!), the male protagonist’s flaw is “too trusting; holds too much faith in the general goodness of humanity,” and the female protagonist’s flaw is “peace through superior firepower; Plan B is just twice as many bullets as Plan A.” Both of them could hold some tension…but to Tropers, those flaws would just boil down to “Curse Your Sudden But Inevitable Betrayal” or “More Dakka.”
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Dec 20, 2013 15:15
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The Leper Colon V posted:Wasn't that Zelos's arc in Tales of Symphonia? MinistryofLard posted:I dunno, the idea of a person, selected at random by an abstract Destiny, being basically forced to destroy something he has nothing to do with and has no desire to destroy, to the point of being unable to die until he does so could be an interesting story. An exploration of the ancient Greek conception of destiny as an abstract force that you can't escape from, no matter what you do, and as a pretty good parody (satire? lampooning? Not entirely sure whether that would count as satire) of the generic fantasy plot. Malazan Book of the Fallen has a few characters that fall under this general idea, Erickson is a decent writer so he can pull it off. The tropes page for that book series is, uh, real fuckin bad.
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Dec 20, 2013 15:20
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Darth TNT posted:
Probably! But the reason that part in particular is stupid is that this isn't a thread for critiquing writing; it's to explain a character and ask for improvements. So being all mysterious with the character's back story makes no sense unless the writer literally hasn't thought of one yet. How is anyone supposed to know if a character makes sense and is interesting if there's nothing to go on?
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Dec 20, 2013 16:53
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El Estrago Bonito posted:Malazan Book of the Fallen has a few characters that fall under this general idea, Erickson is a decent writer so he can pull it off. The tropes page for that book series is, uh, real fuckin bad. Holy gently caress, you aren't kidding. edit: It's painful to see Beak used as a shining example of a trope so loving trite as "Friendship is Magic" SodomyGoat101 fucked around with this message at 20:37 on Dec 20, 2013 |
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Dec 20, 2013 20:34
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crowfeathers posted:Probably! But the reason that part in particular is stupid is that this isn't a thread for critiquing writing; it's to explain a character and ask for improvements. So being all mysterious with the character's back story makes no sense unless the writer literally hasn't thought of one yet. How is anyone supposed to know if a character makes sense and is interesting if there's nothing to go on? It is literally just a flimsy copout. They can't come up with a backstory that would lead to someone not wanting to do anything besides shoot people all the time without stopping. So when faced with the question "Why is he like that?" all they have is "Because, he's a....um...it's a...buh...it's a mystery! Nobody knows!"
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Dec 21, 2013 07:03
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So I just discovered that TvTropes didn't even come up with the stupid Nightmare Fuel name. They just stole it from old Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes and drove the loving joke into the ground. I shouldn't even be surprised at this point.
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Dec 21, 2013 07:19
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Arcsquad12 posted:So I just discovered that TvTropes didn't even come up with the stupid Nightmare Fuel name. They just stole it from old Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes and drove the loving joke into the ground. I shouldn't even be surprised at this point. Literally none of the vaguely clever "trope" names are original. They are 99% references to nerd poo poo, which makes it hilarious when tropers assume that people are referencing them and not the original work.
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Dec 21, 2013 07:33
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quote:I thought the whole "Regular Show has many female fans" was too offensive. Mainly because I'm a male fan of the show and felt it was a little stereotypical. There are plenty of guys who watch the show too. He goes on to edit that bit from the "Estrogen Bait" page (basically, lots of females watch something because there's a hot guy in it) four more times before he's finally banned. Behold.
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Dec 22, 2013 04:04
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No, see, lots of girls watch that show because girls always love slash pairings (even if it's between a cartoon bluejay and a cartoon raccoon). Always. ALWAYS. 
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Dec 22, 2013 07:30
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Mazed posted:No, see, lots of girls watch that show because girls always love slash pairings (even if it's between a cartoon bluejay and a cartoon raccoon). Always. ALWAYS. Well that explains the inexplicable popularity of the Hetalia series.
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Dec 22, 2013 08:12
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Mazed posted:No, see, lots of girls watch that show because girls always love slash pairings (even if it's between a cartoon bluejay and a cartoon raccoon). Always. ALWAYS. To be fair, shippers are loving weird and do watch shows just for that reason instead of watching because they like the show or something.
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Dec 22, 2013 08:17
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Testekill posted:To be fair, shippers are loving weird and do watch shows just for that reason instead of watching because they like the show or something. Then again, you've kinda gotta love at least some aspects of a show if you're writing about
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Dec 22, 2013 09:11
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I would love to see all these completely motivation-less characters in an existentialist adventure. It would be amazing. A huge, sweeping fantasy setting with these characters trudging listlessly across it, defeated and affectless postures, all the dialogue out of Waiting for Godot or something. "I need to defeat the dragon because I'm the guy who..." He trails off into a sigh of utter desolation. After a silence of several minutes, and with a visible effort, he continues: "does that." "OK." Responds K'rtzz of the Seven Blades. "Fine."
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Dec 22, 2013 19:50
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I always get a laugh whenever they make a point of not giving "spoilers" for their stories. As if they were ever going to be finished/read anyway.
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Dec 22, 2013 21:15
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Morkyz posted:I always get a laugh whenever they make a point of not giving "spoilers" for their stories. That's more like it.
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Dec 22, 2013 21:39
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Not to mention they're asking for critique. You can't go "sorry not spoiling my super secret character background"when the point of asking for critique is actually getting it.
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Dec 22, 2013 21:58
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If it's super secret, it MUST be really original and mindblowing, and so good people would be helpless to want to steal the idea. 
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Dec 22, 2013 22:20
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Here's an original characterquote:Name: Odin / Gran Magus of the Northwestern Hemisphere Othinus Cyrhoden / Brunn Borson The list of tropes goes on for pages and pages, these are just the first couple. Badass Longcoat 
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Dec 23, 2013 01:38
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crowfeathers posted:Hlioskjalf: A relative power to Regalia, he achieved this power by sacrificing his right eye to finalize his connection to the mythology of Odin. This power allows him to change the Mana in a spell and make it different Mana and thus, change what spell he's using, functionally allowing him to cast one spell out of another. What does this even mean? In fact, what does any of that even mean?
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Dec 23, 2013 02:08
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The weird "anti-retaker" fucker is back again. For a bit of context, this is the guy who really, really, really, REALLY loved the Mass Effect 3 original ending, and went to spamming pages and some of the forum with how the Extended Cut ruined it all.
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Dec 23, 2013 02:08
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crowfeathers posted:Here's an original character God, these people sure know how to drain the life out of a character. I only got about halfway through the laundry list of Abilities before dozing off.
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Dec 23, 2013 02:12
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And, of course, he looks no older than seventeen.
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Dec 23, 2013 02:41
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I'm glad he mentioned this character gets a lot of mana back per second. I may want to use this character in a World of Warcraft raid and I want to make sure he never runs out. 
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Dec 23, 2013 03:11
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TV Tropes Writer's Block > A Tie In PokerHandsomerob posted:I was reading this page on Tie breakers in Poker, because I considered that I might want to write a poker game one day. quote:If you look at what you linked, it's not possible to have a tie in most cases. Handsomerob posted:Yeah. I thought as much. quote:Even under the rules in your link, a tie is possible. It's unlikely, because it would require each player to have identical value hands (the same values in individual cards, but in different suits), but it is possible, and that's enough for a story. Handsomerob posted:Oh. Neither read the page he linked nor understands poker but by god he's going to write about it. TV Tropes Writer's Block > Share your first lines! quote:It Was a Dark and Stormy Night, 50 years later in a place with no weather nor nights yet another day began. This was Sano's 8000th day and he had no recollection of day #7999. He didn't know that yet, nor did he know that someone had colored his hair pink and a matching miniskirt was hanging from the ceiling fan. He was still sleeping, dreaming about Earth and a dark stormy night just like those he had seen in the movies, just like the ones in the beginning of poorly written stories with run-on sentences, stories with stuff like haunted houses, screaming maids, slamming doors, pirate ships and a child that might or might not be growing up in Kansas anymore, possibly due to the weather. quote:"Let’s see here…if I arrange the regents like this…wait, did I do it wrong? Oh, I think I made a mistake here. I think I might be able to save it. Hmm…" quote:
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Dec 23, 2013 03:19
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After all that prose and meandering and mana scores, I'm hella fond of that last one. The guy knows what he wants to write and by god he's going to write it.
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Dec 23, 2013 03:30
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TVTropes Pleads The Fifth: Gentlemen... today is a very good day
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Dec 23, 2013 03:41
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Djeser posted:
To a casual observer those entries would seem to be longer than one line.
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Dec 23, 2013 03:54
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Morkyz posted:What does this even mean? In fact, what does any of that even mean? It means he can change the element of a Fireball spell into Ice or Thunder elemental, depending on his enemy's weakness. Come on man, this is like the first thing you learn when you take a level in Archmage.
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Dec 23, 2013 06:23
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Morkyz posted:What does this even mean? In fact, what does any of that even mean? The mention of mana made me think of MTG, so the impression I got was that instead of burning with red mana you could convert it to green mana to pump up something.
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Dec 23, 2013 06:58
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Heath posted:It means he can change the element of a Fireball spell into Ice or Thunder elemental, depending on his enemy's weakness. Come on man, this is like the first thing you learn when you take a level in Archmage. I took it to mean that he could rapidly cast different elemental spells one after another....why are we trying to make sense of this? Morkyz posted:To a casual observer those entries would seem to be longer than one line. But we know btter. *wink wink nudge nudge*
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Dec 23, 2013 08:38
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My favorite part of all that is how Draupnir shoots fireballs.
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Dec 23, 2013 15:32
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Morkyz posted:To a casual observer those entries would seem to be longer than one line. To any regular reader, editor, or author they are more than one line. However, since these are Tropers we're discussing, the standard Rules Need Not Apply.
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Dec 23, 2013 16:09
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quote:Badass Boast: "So, Sir Rinkaku, you don't know who I am. You lead an intelligence division of the New Ephas Abjuration, and you do not know who your enemy is. Rebuild your pitiful group from the ground up. Fire or execute the sewage occupying the lower level jobs, and replace the drivel in the high positions. I myself cannot bother to destroy you. I'd rather fight a rival god than crush a worm under my boot." Wow such a badass line how incredible I'm compelled and interested in this exciting new character 
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Dec 23, 2013 16:20
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That line reads kinda like an anime fansub.
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Dec 23, 2013 18:22
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Metal Loaf posted:That line reads kinda like an anime fansub. Honestly? It doesn't. Anime, even lovely anime, is typically written by someone who knows what the gently caress they're doing. This line reads like someone's idiotic idea of what would sound badass in an anime. It is levels removed from actual anime, that's how loving bad it is.
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Dec 23, 2013 18:45
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I'm more interested in that villain. Seriously, that is an incredibly open-minded hiring policy, hiring actual sewage (also I think the badass misused the word "drivel"). Also did anyone else picture that "badass" quote being said by a fat teenager? That's honestly all I could picture.
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Dec 23, 2013 20:00
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