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deactivated28752859652

PostPosted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 10:19 pm


'Trope' refers to story components or elements which have become standardized through decades (or more) of use. Some are as old as Shakespeare, or as recent as Jekyll. Whatever the case, all stories have them, and all characters.

That's not to say they're a bad thing like Mary Sues - possessing a trope does not make a character or work flawed in any way (unless they're a particularly annoying trope).

The idea of this little topic is to put your plots and characters into tropes from TV Tropes, a rather addicting wiki site that specialises in defining them. It's not only rather fun, but also revealing, as it can open your eyes to clichés you may have been using without realising it.

Here are some lists to get you started:
Action Adventure Tropes
Comedy Tropes
Speculative Fiction (Scifi and Fantasy) Tropes
War Tropes
Horror Tropes
Love/Romance Tropes
Drama Tropes
Animé Tropes
Betrayal Tropes
Combat Tropes
Death Tropes
Fate and Prophesy Tropes
Memory Tropes
Evil Tropes
Sex Tropes
Madness Tropes

And to make this easier to read, I suggest we divide our tropes into the tropes in the plot, then per character - and, if it's a trope that hasn't been linked to before, link to it. Yes? Yes. There we go. ^.^
PostPosted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 12:30 am


Nathan:
Blonde Guys Are Evil - also applies to Kyril and Richard
Flamboyant Gay
The Red Mage - Technically, as it turns out he studies Toulene tribal magic as a hobby

Yinda:
Tomboy
Chekhov`s Gunman - twice, as a matter of fact, wielding Chekhov's Guns both times.

Sabine:
Staff Chick - She doesn't actually use a staff, but she almost did in her original concept, and it's the same principle.
The Medic
Team Mom

Jericho:
Smoking is Cool
Permastubble
The Pig Pen - Once a month, whether he needs it or not.

Vitae:
The Stoic
Human Popsicle
Living Relic
Badass Bookworm
Celibate Hero
Artificial Limbs

Rhodora:
The Chessmaster

Magical Society - the Citadel
Mageocracy - the Mages' Council
Magitek - Trains

Chekhov`s Armory:
Jericho's derringer
Kyril's punching dagger
The worry stone

I keep coming back and updating this as I read more TV Tropes.

Raincrow
Captain

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deactivated28752859652

PostPosted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 12:58 am


Kekekekekeke.

Foxglove:

Plot:
Parental Obliviousness
All Girls Want Bad Boys
Anonymous Ringer
Yaoi Guys - Ike/Yogan, or 'Yikes' XP
Ho Yay - Kemuri/Ian, Shigure/Fubuki, Yvon/Anyone
Appeal to Obscurity - Kitsune who betrayed their families
Call Back
Fictional Document - several materials referenced in the show, including Shigure's favorite 'book', Byakuya (a pornographic, violent manga)
Geographic Flexibility - Beroborough is not only fictional, but it also has a city, forests, vast lake, mountain ranges and beach within a half hour drive from anyone's house.
Limited Social Circle - Specifically, Akiru, Susan, Yvon, Shigure, Ike, Yogan, and Fubuki
Loners Are Freaks
No Onttological Interia
Revenge
Train Problem
Interspecies Romance - fox/human, fox/cat, fox/dragon, human/dragon
Subtext – Ike/Yogan (initially), Shigure/Fubuki, Yvon/Shigure, Yvon/Fubuki, Kokoro/Shigure, Susan/Napoleon, Kemuri/Ian
Meaningful Names - look up any of the kitsune characters’ first names, and you’ll find that it relates in some way to their family/powers. This is said to be a family tradition, broken only in certain cases…
Species Surname - the ‘ko’ in all the surnames is written as ‘fox’ ('狐') except in the case of 'Kako', where it is written 'child' ('子')
Theme Naming
Thorin Adjective Noun
Born in the Wrong Century - due to long life-spans, either they don’t fit in now, or they didn’t fit in back then
You Rebel Scum! - Genko, or ‘black foxes’ – those banished – are frequently insulted in this way by their Byako or white fox counterparts
Glowing Eyes of Doom - If any character’s eyes start glowing, it means they’re using a magic power (or being possessed). Start running.
Hot Springs Episode
Technicolor Eyes - red, blue, purple, green, white, black, silver, gold, the list goes on

Akiru Moriko
The Messiah
Idiot Hero
Morality Pet
Unlucky Everydude
At Arms Length
Beginner’s Luck
Only One
Foreign Sounding Gibberish - it actually means ‘wearies of’, and was made up on the spot. Yup. Sorry about that.
Blank Slate

Susan Smyth
Badass Normal
Emotionless Girl
Harem Nanny
Has an Annoying Younger Sibling
Alliterative Name

Shinneri Tokiko
Adult Child
Heavy Sleeper when depressed
Lethal Chef
And Zoidberg
Amelia Bedelia
Bindle Stick
The Man Who Knew Too Little
Reverse Psychology
Meaningful Name - three factors, involving his nickname: ‘Shin’ meaning ‘new’, ‘Shin’ meaning ‘faith’, and ‘Shinneri’ meaning ‘Annoying Persistence’. Not to mention that 'shin' is used for 'skin' as well.
Prophetic Name
Backstory
Break The Cutie
Catch Phrase - 'Kisuke!'
Driven To Suicide - considered
Epiphany Therapy
Eyes Always Shut
Cat Smile - 3nodding
Distinguishing Mark - tattoo of clan symbol on back of left wrist
Shirtless Scene

Yvon D'Aubigne
Bishonen
Gender Bender
Meganekko
Ordinary High School Student
Blind Without ‘Em
Psychotic Smirk
Midair Bobbing
Bawdy Song - by the by, if anyone knows any Chinese bawdy songs, send them my way, why don't you?
Boldly Coming
Fetish Fuel
Naughty Tentacles - ARGH my brain! D: Technically, since he can shapeshift, not to mention being made of ribbons, and having feelers in his dragon form—my brain! Oops! There goes the façade of me still having an innocent mind. (... I blame Rae.)
Shower of Love
Two Person Pool Party - with Shigure, in a hot tub – Yvon was female at the time
I Have Many Names - comes with the multiple lives thing
Backstory
Cool Loser
Light Is Not Good
I Take Offence To That Last One
Insult Backfire
Hidden Eyes
Scary Shiny Glasses
Shirtless Scene

Shigure Kako
Bishounen sometimes
One Winged Angel
Anime/Manga Otaku – specialised to fictional series Byakuya
Ronin
Samurai
The Stoic
Had a Temporary Love Interest
Acid Reflux Nightmare
Anyone Remember Pogs?
Crazy Survivalist
Happy Place
Breathless Non-Sequitur
Heroic BSOD
Brutal Honesty
Insanity Defence (Gets him out of a WHOLE LOT OF s**t)
Madness Mantra (‘Saru saru saru saru’, that is, ‘going away going away going away’, or so I hope, when in a kitsune crypt)
Psychotic Smirk
Licked By The Dog
Ring Ring CRUNCH - Beware – do not have a cell phone ring near this guy
Coitus Uninterruptus
Destructo Nookie - with Utoi
Fetish Fuel
Language of Love - Shigure/Maria, which was Japanese/Italian
My Girl Is Not A Slut - Kokoro
Meaningful Name - search ‘Shigure’ on wikipedia, and you’ll be able to find a Japanese warship. There’s something special about this ship. Yup.
My Name Is Not Durwood - Bakako, Nekophiliac, and many more
All Of The Other Reindeer - tolerance version
Backstory
Break The Haughty
Bad Boss
The Clark Kent Effect
Beserk Button - cherry blossoms, Kokoro, asking about his past, anybody mentioning him in suggestive manner
Best Served Cold - Fubuki
Driven To Suicide - attempted
Evil Laugh - Psychotic laughter
Heel Face Revolving Door
Why Did It Have To Be Snakes? - phobia of death
I Take Offence To That Last One
You Fight Like A Cow - vs. Fubuki
A God I Am
Clothing Damage - his clothes get ripped off more than strictly necessary. There, I admitted it!
Hidden Eyes
Distinguishing Mark - scars, tattoo
Hand Or Object Underwear - I told you he gets naked a lot. In this case, he stood on one leg to cross the other over his manhood so that his hands were free to cover his (scarred) face, as he was caught in the shower
Shirtless Scene - shutupshutupshutup

Fubuki Yamako
Cake Eater
The Dandy
Handsome Lech
Samurai
Had a Temporary Love Interest
White Haired Pretty Boy
Bunny Ears Lawyer
Has two Replacement Goldfish (his children)
Fainting - Girly Man Faint
Bawdy Song
Meaningful Name - his name, meaning ‘Snowstorm’, is said in-text to be how he approaches relationships: the sky will be ominously cloudy, then suddenly the snowstorm hits and is everywhere and everything in your life, and then its gone, leaving only wreckage and its mark on everything
Backstory
Break The Haughty
Benevolent Boss
Clothing Damage
Shirtless Scene

Ike Kako:
Bishounen
Morality Pet - Shigure's
Past Short Guy With Glasses
The Stoic
Had a Temporary Love Interest
Blind Without ‘Em
Sitting On The Roof
The Man Who Knew Too Little
Covert Pervert
Elevator Going Down - with Yogan
Erotic Dream - Yogan again
Two Person Pool Party - Yogan, in the Biko heated baths – generally recognised as a very naughty and disrespectful thing for him to do indeed
Meaningful Name - ‘Ike’, meaning ‘pond’, and ‘Ike’, meaning ‘defender of man’
My Nayme Is - That’s ‘Ike’ in English, not the various Japanese symbols for the similar word
Backstory
Best Served Cold - Shigure
Driven To Suicide - attempted
Heel Face Turn
Eye Scream - slashed across by Shigure, described in some detail as bleeding and lying in two halves in his face, and finally removed and replaced with a patch
Clothing Damage
Furo Scene - with Yogan
Scary Shiny Glasses
Shirtless Scene
PostPosted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 2:21 pm


This should be fun. whee And take a long time. o-o; So I'll do some and then add on gradually.

Plot
No One Gets Left Behind (Kinda sorta).

Niklaus:
Shell-Shocked Senior


....Aaaaand... the website died on me before I got to do anything else. emo

La Spanadienne


The Lobster Queen
Crew

PostPosted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 11:56 pm


Mural's Story:

An Offer You Can't Refuse
Eye Scream


Yukio's Story:

Bound and Gagged (Occasionally in the 'well I didn't mean this to be sexual but if you want to take it that way I'm not saying you shouldn't~' sense)
Let's Get Dangerous and Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass (Zarr is a useless airhead up until towards the end, where he puts up a surprisingly good fight trying to protect Yukio. Er. Then he takes a knife to the throat. He dies grinning. xd ...which reminds me...)
Go Out With a Smile (XD)
Normally I Would be Dead By Now
Blood From the Mouth
Family Unfriendly Death
Off With His Head



General (Misc short stories):

Cyanide Pill
Candlelit Bath
Our Hero is Dead (However, the end of this entry applies -- the hero is really. really. dead. xD I play with it though. There are chapters where you KNOW he's coming back. Never does. rofl )
Snow Means Death
PostPosted: Sun Mar 30, 2008 2:01 am


I had a minor character in RSM who went through life with his Eyes Always Shut. 3nodding

Jericho gets a nice Eye Scream at the end of MOSI.

Speaking of Jericho, he is guilty of the Hand Behind Head gesture.

Vitae, Yinda, and Jericho (and maybe Nathan, if you can count a permanent limp) all wind up with Good Scars Evil Scars.

Kyril, Richard, and Nathan have Distinguishing Marks.

Vitae's headband would probably count as an Iconic Item, as would Nathan's hair decoration.

Nathan has something of an Unlimited Wardrobe.

Rhodora is Nathan's Man Behind the Man.

Raincrow
Captain

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hlmtwin

PostPosted: Wed Apr 23, 2008 5:39 pm


This took a long time.
Mag Mell Chronicles Tropes

Plot
Because Destiny Says So
Magitek
Interspecies Romance: Janis/Kassel, Orbsen/Diantha
Hot Springs Episode: Orbsen can literally sense when a hot spring is nearby to relax in. ^^
All Myths Are True
Crossover Cosmology

Setting
Magical Land
Another Dimension
To a certain degree: Fisher King

Jånis
Our Dragons Are Different
Voluntary Shapeshifting
Samurai
Unusual Ears: they actually give him away the first time you encounter him.

Kassel
Half Human Hybrids
Gender Bender
Voluntary Shapeshifting
Healing Hands
Reality Warper
Even The Guys Want Him
I Have Many Names
Unlimited Wardrobe

Orbsen
Gender Bender
Some Kind Of Force Field
Nature Spirit
Voluntary Shapeshifting: though sometimes it isn't
The Empath
Healing Hands
Cute Shotaro Boy
Eyes Of Gold
Facial Markings
The White Prince
Physical God
Hand Behind Head I actually have a drawing of him doing this in his character sheet.
Unlimited Wardrobe

Marin
Knife Nut
Badass Normal
Ordinary High School Student

Almace
The Charmer
Unusual Ears
Ironically, has amnesia but not in any of the troped kinds.

George
The Jeeves

Emperor Anu
Evil Overlord
President Corrupt
Villain With Good Publicity
PostPosted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 5:36 pm


Plot:
Yaoi Guys. So, so many Yaoi Guys...
Screw Destiny
Fetish Fuel I thought about this over the weekend. I was horrified by how much was in there. Stupid filthy mind.
Big Damn Heros
Our Dragons Are Different

Ardane:
Hot Shounen Mom Well, she was a Hot Shounen Mom. And she's still rather attractive despite being old as dirt.
You Gotta have Blue Hair Or Purple, in this case.
Action Mom
Lady of War

Drazora:
Bishounen
Even The Guys Want Him Until they realize he's a guy, which brings me to...
Dude looks like A Lady
Rapunzel Hair His hair reaches his damn FEET. He's seven feet tall.
You Gotta have Blue Hair
Technicolor Eyes Purple in this case.
Genre Savvy
Naughty Tentacles Err... I can explain. This never happens in-story, but it's a joke between me and a friend that if Drazzy ever met Admiral ZEX, he'd wind up as part of the menagerie.
Twincest He's not happy about it.
Uke Sorrta.
Glass Cannon
Jerkass

Erin:
Boat Lights Green and Blue.
Genre Savvy To a point. The Attention Deficit Ooh Shiny gets in the way sometimes.
Attention Deficit Ooh Shiny As mentioned above. Although she's got combined type.
Genki Girl
Yaoi Fangirl

Eclipse:
Person of Mass Destruction Seriously. Behind the easy-going exterior lies the power to FLATTEN CITIES.
Estrogen Brigade Bait Except he has a personality.

The Destroyer:
Jerkass Facade
Otaku
Space Whales She's a space whales otaku. I'm as confused as you are.
Reality Warper She wanted space whales. SHE GOT SPACE WHALES.
Cloudcuckoolander
Born Lucky Not quite to that extreme--it's more long-term benefit then short-term benefit--but still pretty rediculious.
Single Target Sexuality She loves the Goddess of Balance. She is also the asexual embodiment of chaos. ...Yeah.
Embarrassing Admission I put in here on impulse and will never say in this guild again

(( This is the point where my ADHD catches up with me. :B ))
Trope Overdosed, anyone?

VenusRain

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erikakaiser
Vice Captain

Dapper Inquisitor

PostPosted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 8:43 pm


This thread strikes me more as "let's point out the flaws/stereotypes in our story like we're proud of them" than anything else. confused
PostPosted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 11:13 pm


Every story's going to have stereotypes despite our best efforts otherwise. We might as well know what they are and that they exist in the first place rather than just being blissfully unaware.

*plays "The More You Know" ditty*

Raincrow
Captain

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erikakaiser
Vice Captain

Dapper Inquisitor

PostPosted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 12:53 am


Eh, I agree with the stereotype thing, I'm just not sure if I like the method here.
PostPosted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 11:53 am


Eh... I think the idea behind calling them 'tropes' is kind of pointing out that they're not stereotypes, just like a saying or turn of phrase isn't always a cliche. I mean, if we were saying that you couldn't do anything that's done a fair bit it would be all "nope, can't have a main character, those're done to death... plot arc? Seen 'em." And whoops, there goes pretty much any chance of writing an interesting or engaging story. The difference is, there's the trope, which is... kinda like a category, but if it was a stereotype, that's all there'd be to it. The hero would be nothing but a hero, the villain would be nothing but a villain, so on and so forth. However, calling a character a hero or a villain doesn't mean that there's not a whole other layer of complexity and originality and junk.

Blargh.

Kita-Ysabell

Distinct Conversationalist


Kita-Ysabell

Distinct Conversationalist

PostPosted: Sun Nov 09, 2008 3:18 pm


Okay, starting with the Snarky Party, and I’ll get to the others… later. Sometime. Still working on it.

The Plot in General
Lets You and Him Fight with a few variations, and more than once.
Nice Job Breaking it, Hero repeatedly, I may add
Fictional Document. Although it’s really a time-warped version of Marx’s Communist Manifesto.
Light is not Good. Or something like it isn’t. Probably.
The Wild Hunt. It’s a Fairy Raed, and you don’t mess with them.
Loads and Loads of Characters. Bloody hell, there’s so many…
The whole plot pretty much revolves around two Ragtag Bunches of Misfits. Don’t think the Snarky Party qualifies? Hoo boy, wait till you see them in (in)action.
Weather Dissonance, but it’s favorable, so everyone looks the other way. Oops.

Kita, Feragel, and Indio
Big Damn Heroes, ironically
Cloak and Dagger
Career Killers- the first kind, obviously.
Jerkass Façade. Kita and Feragel, at least… to a degree. But at the same time, they’re probably right. Indio attempts it, but Kita and Feragel kinda shoot the whole thing down.
On the Sliding Scale of Anti Heroes, Indio rates I-II, Kita III-IV, and Feragel a solid V
They’re all Tall, Dark, and Snarky to some degree or another. Kita probably plays it straightest, as Feragel tends to be more insincere, and Indio… just hasn’t got the hang of it quite yet.
Power Trio, when they’re functional, although some of their instability comes from having a tendency to switch off, particularly Kita and Feragel:
Id- Kita
Superego- Feragel
Ego- Indio (although… not necessarily under his own power)

Kita
Action Girl
Hitman with a Heart. Bwahahahaha.
Something of a reluctant Femme Fatale, slinky red dress and old-fashioned trench coat included.
Might be a Lady of War, depending on what you think of her.
Something of a Broken Bird, but don’t expect her to get better
Tall, Dark, and Bishoujo- it’s a part of her charm
Daddy’s Girl, to the point that it borders on creepy

Feragel
Most certainly a Byronic Hero
All Girls Want Bad Boys
Ho Yay. “I’d totally screw you if you were a girl.” Right.
Wicked Cultured.
Rape the Dog. Most notably, he kills pretty much anyone he sleeps with as a form of birth control. Ick.
A bit of a Psycho for Hire, in a way
Beast and Beauty, with both Kita and Indio, both… bitterly. Neither ends well, or conclusively, for that matter.
Cassanova, although it isn’t onscreen much as a) he abuses and kills them and b) it’s a video game. No sex in video games. Also, he doesn’t do it for the sex. Don’t think too hard on that.
Estrogen Brigade Bait
Perma Stubble, because he knows people think it’s badass or something, he actually shaves it that way
Troubled but Cute, although the trouble really, really outweighs the cute. Mostly.

Indio
Bit of a Morality Pet for Kita and Feragel
The Charmer, but don’t expect him to be nice.
Even the Guys Want Him, but it’s more due to intuition and skill than an innate charm.
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