User blog:Gideoncrawle/Belated 5,000th Edit Special: Tropes Listing 2

Introduction
Another four months, another 1,000 edits. This milestone blog is a bit late—I actually hit 5000 edits just before we started using our new calendars—but I had to wait to avoid spoiling LTDI’s Third Night chapter for readers who weren’t able to get to it right away. More on this below.

The most noteworthy thing to happen to me between 4,000 and 5,000 edits is that, as of mid-November, my DW is officially more popular than me, based on the size of our Friends lists. (Wifey’s Friends count is now pushing 40, and she’s been here less than 5 months.) It took me 10 months to reach 20 Friends. It took my DW four days, but that can happen if you spend a lot of time on chat and have someone’s coattails to ride.

My Friends list now stands at 34, including a fair number who are no longer active here. Many people who have this many Friends take down their lists and just say that they consider everyone here their friends, but I’ve kept my list because I actually use it sometimes. In certain situations, it can be the easiest way to get to someone’s talk page.

This will probably by my last X,000 Edit milestone blog. The reasons are that (a) it’s getting hard to come up with special things to do every four months, and (b) my edit count has got to the point where a thousand edits isn’t what it used to be. I’ll continue to make milestone blogs, they just won’t be as frequent.

My next edit count milestone blog will probably be at 7,500 unless I decide to do something numerology-based. I’m guessing that it will probably take 9 or 10 months to get to 7,500 edits. In the meantime, look for my Second Wikiversary blog on or about 8 February.

5,000th Edit Special: Tropes II: Return of the Trope Army
For my 3,000th Edit special back in May, I listed the known tropes (using the trope names from the TV Tropes website) for all of my stories except my two Fake Souls vignettes. That listing included 30 tropes from Legacy, 22 from CatVoD, nine from TDI-G&amp;S (which had so few because it doesn’t have an original plot, so most of its tropes also appear in the canon TDI), and a whopping 200 for LTDI. These lists are incorporated here by reference.

I knew that LTDI, in particular, would have many more tropes than I had identified for the earlier listing, because it’s a long (estimated finished length 250-300K words) that’s still in progress. In the course of wasting huge chunks of my life on the TV Tropes site that I’ll never get back, though, I also found additional tropes for several other stories.

All told, I have an additional 170 tropes for LTDI, 15 for Legacy, and four for CatVod. Desperate Measures, the Izzy-centric chapter I wrote for the Fake Souls anthology, also has a list now, with seven identified tropes.

Because all of these (except for LTDI, of course) are long-finished stories, the following lists include examples of the various tropes in action. Some of these may contain spoilers for people who haven’t yet read the story. Such people, if such be here, may want to read the stories first.

Legacy Tropes

 * 1) Armor-Piercing Question: When Courtney says that she should have been kept on instead of Gwen, Noah replies, "She would be here. Alive. And you?"
 * 2) Author catchphrase: Beginning sentences with "So it was" or "So it was that X"
 * 3) Creator Thumbprint: G&S reference, "shown their work" for a younger generation, "death and renewal" theme
 * 4) Description Porn: Most notably in describing the changes that time has wrought, and Gwen's wound
 * 5) Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: Chef Hatchet leaves Duncan and LeShawna to guard the (currently docile) serial killer, with a stern warning to not taunt him
 * 6) Dramatic...Ellipsis
 * 7) Empty Chair Memorial: One of the seats at the site of the elimination ceremony is draped in Gwen's nightgown, and is not used for the rest of the competition
 * 8) In Medias Res: Chapter 1 is set after chapters 2&3
 * 9) Irony: Heather is planning to name her baby after the late Gwen, whom she couldn't stand when the latter was alive. Heather appreciates the irony of her decision, and comments on it.
 * 10) Paper Cutting: Subverted in that the killer tries to do this to Gwen, but is interrupted at precisely the wrong moment
 * 11) Plot Bunny: The story idea spontaneously fleshed itself out and became so distracting that the project which inspired it had to be set aside so this story could be written
 * 12) Shotgun Wedding: Lindsay and Tyler had begun to discuss marriage when an unplanned pregnancy forced the issue
 * 13) Signature Style: Description-rich and dialogue-light, with a faintly neo-Victorian flavor. (This is a trope that covers most of a creator's oeuvre.)
 * 14) Take That: Heather's reaction after winning the grand prize. She thinks, and may even have said, the exact words
 * 15) The Jimmy Hart Version: Trent tweaks a tune for his tribute song, albeit not to get around copyright

Courtney and the Violin of Despair Tropes

 * 1) Author catchphrase: Beginning sentences with "So it was that X"
 * 2) Creator Thumbprint: G&S reference, "shown their work"
 * 3) Prequel: Most of the story is set at earlier dates than the show
 * 4) Signature Style

Desperate Measures Tropes

 * 1) Author catchphrase: Beginning sentences with "So it was that X"
 * 2) Creator Thumbprint: "shown their work" for a younger generation, "death and renewal" theme
 * 3) Dye Or Die: Becky/Izzy changes her hair color as part of assuming a new identity
 * 4) Faking the Dead: The last stage of Becky/Izzy's plan involves faking her death
 * 5) No Dialogue Episode
 * 6) Pyromaniac: Reconstructed - Becky/Izzy makes meticulous plans to isolate herself for the safety of others
 * 7) Signature Style:

The Legend of Total Drama Island Tropes
For reasons that I trust are obvious, the following listing does not include tropes that “come with the territory” in competition stories or elimination games generally, nor does it include tropes pertaining to canon characterizations. Likewise, this listing omits tropes applying to similar incidents in the canon TDI. Canon TDI tropes that appear in different (or additional) incidents in LTDI, however, are fair game. Note: Because of the spoiler potential, I obviously can’t give you specific examples for many of these tropes. Indeed, in many cases I can’t even tell you which of the following tropes I will play straight and which I will play with via subversion, discussion, lampshading, etc. The tropes in this list that do have examples are generally those pertaining to the story’s structure or to the portions I have posted to date (including previews). Because LTDI is a work in process, it is possible that a few of these tropes won’t make it into the finished product, but you can expect the vast majority to be present.

Spoiler Alert: The examples in the following list include some from the recently-posted Third Night chapter. Indeed, the reason I delayed this blog post was that I wanted to include these examples and wanted to give people time to read the chapter first. You have been warned. Some examples also offer peeks at later chapters, albeit with much less spoiler potential.

I'm running late and want to get this posted at a reasonable hour, so not all the links are in place yet. They will be added shortly.


 * 1) Added Alliterative Appeal: Quite a bit, including a full-fledged alliteration "duel" between Noah and Izzy (with Chris even getting into the act as he interrupts it)
 * 2) Ain't Too Proud To Beg
 * 3) All There In The Manual: The Notes (aka Trivia) section includes hyperlinks to supplemental information on ancillary topics, mostly related to allusions that appear in the story
 * 4) Almighty Janitor: Alejandro is really more of a "wise janitor", but there isn't a separate trope for that
 * 5) Anime Hair: During the first challenge, Chris refuses Sadie's demand to let her and Katie be on the same team, so Katie and Sadie inflict a form of this upon him
 * 6) Armor-Piercing Question: Beth defuses an impending No-Holds-Barred Beatdown when she asks, "Hasn't there been enough blood today?"
 * 7) Arrested for Heroism
 * 8) Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking
 * 9) As You Know: Chris invokes this when granting the campers amnesty to surrender forbidden electronic gadgets
 * 10) Aside Comment: The Storyteller occasionally makes comments during a tale that are ostensibly directed at her son, but are in fact also directed at the reader
 * 11) Author catchphrase: Beginning a sentence with "So it was" or "So it was that X"
 * 12) Barely-There Swimwear: Lindsay wears a bikini of this type in one episode
 * 13) Battle Royale With Cheese: The million-dollar treasure hunt (canon TDDDDI) following the competition proper is a team challenge, with the eliminated campers under the command of the finalists
 * 14) Bawdy Song: The camping challenge will feature at least one of these
 * 15) Beat Them at Their Own Game
 * 16) Becoming The Mask
 * 17) Better as Friends
 * 18) Big Guy Fatality Syndrome
 * 19) Bigger on the Inside
 * 20) Boldly Coming: This happened (sort of) in one of the previewed scenes
 * 21) Canis Latinicus: The “two-legged wolf” gets a faux Latin “scientific name”
 * 22) Character Exaggeration: Katie and Sadie's pseudo hive mind is more pronounced and explicit than in the original, as is Lindsay's difficulty with names
 * 23) Chewing The Scenery: Chris does this at the final bonfire ceremony
 * 24) Comforting the Widow
 * 25) Comically Missing the Point: Lindsay in the pomegranate scene. Additional examples in later chapters
 * 26) Conflicting Loyalty: Someone ends up in two incompatible alliances
 * 27) Cool and Unusual Punishment
 * 28) Creator Thumbprint: G&S reference, "shown their work", "death and renewal" theme
 * 29) Curiosity Killed The Cast
 * 30) Death by Sex
 * 31) Death Glare: Quite a few, with Courtney probably being the leading practitioner
 * 32) Description Porn: Things like taking 600 words to describe how the campers make Harold’s “grave” site marker
 * 33) Development Gag: Alejandro the intern once competed on a show called Camp TV, which got cancelled partly because of its bland name
 * 34) Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?
 * 35) Didn't See That Coming
 * 36) Dinner and a Show
 * 37) Disproportionate Retribution: LeShawna almost kills Heather (albeit accidentally) during their argument on the diving cliff
 * 38) Dissonant Serenity
 * 39) Dog Food Diet: Played with in the first meal. The sloppy joe meat looks suspiciously like dog food.
 * 40) Door Stopper: Estimated finished length is 250-300 thousand words
 * 41) Drama Bomb: The first two chapters are generally light and comic. Then, at the start of the third, Harold never comes up from his dive and is presumed dead.
 * 42) Dramatic...Ellipsis: These appear with some regularity
 * 43) Dropping The Bombshell
 * 44) Dumb Blonde: Lampshaded - "You can take out the blonde, but you can't take out the dumb"
 * 45) Eaten Alive: Harold's fate in the first challenge.
 * 46) Elimination Catchphrase: Expands on the canon version by adding, "and make the Voyage of the Damned"
 * 47) Ending Memorial Service
 * 48) Et Tu, Brute?
 * 49) Even The Rats Won't Touch It
 * 50) Everyone Gets Their Turn: Several conversation have this, mainly so certain contestants (especially early outs) don't become too minor
 * 51) Everythings Better With Bunnies: Inverted when DJ's finding of a bunny in the camping challenge triggers an important conflict storyline
 * 52) Exposition Cut: The Storyteller does this with the line, "But nothing would be gained by repeating it here"
 * 53) Eye Am Watching You: Several girls make this sign to Ezekiel after Eva owns him during the first challenge
 * 54) Eye Take: Noah's reaction to Katie and Sadie's method of persuading Chris to let them be on the same team. Numerous other cases, often accompanied by jaw drops, in keeping with the heavy use of facial dialogue.
 * 55) Facial Dialogue: The Storyteller often remarks on the campers' facial expression, especially their eyes
 * 56) False Friend: Heather, to LeShawna. LeShawna does not see Heather's true colors until the Diary Incident. (Contrast to the canon version, where Heather's false friendship is never mentioned again after her initial reconciliation with LeShawna.)
 * 57) Famed in Story: When the Eagles are messing with Beth's mind on the diving cliff, implying that she will die if she dives, Trent promises to write a song in her memory
 * 58) Famous Last Words: "Make me" - Heather. It nearly gets her killed.
 * 59) Fartillery: Owen. (Did you really have to ask?)
 * 60) Farts On Fire: As above
 * 61) Finish Dialogue In Unison: Katie & Sadie do this a couple of times, including their intro
 * 62) Finishing Each Other's Sentences: Katie & Sadie do this as well
 * 63) Food And Animal Attraction: This led to an incident that is the cause of Beth's phobia
 * 64) Forced To Watch
 * 65) Forgotten Fallen Friend: Inverted with Harold. Although the other campers barely knew him when he got eaten by a shark, he is occasionally mentioned throughout the story.
 * 66) Friendship Moment
 * 67) Futile Hand Reach: LeShawna does this after accidentally driving Heather off the diving cliff
 * 68) Graceful Loser
 * 69) Gratuitous French
 * 70) Ground Pound: This is how Owen opens the crates during the first challenge
 * 71) [ Half-Human Hybrid]
 * 72) [ Have I Mentioned I Am Sexually Active Today?]: The story has a fair amount of sexual innuendo--reportedly enough to put off some readers--but it's mostly just kids talking big
 * 73) [ Hero of Another Story]: Alejandro the intern was the Villain Protagonist of an earlier TDI-like show, Camp TV
 * 74) [ Heroic BSOD]: Tyler has one when Courtney fails to find Harold
 * 75) [ Hive Mind]: The Storyteller sometimes describes Katie and Sadie as this
 * 76) [ Holier Than Thou]: Notably averted with Ezekiel. Despite being overtly religious, he does not push a moral agenda
 * 77) [ Hot Amazon]
 * 78) [ How We Got Here]: Played quite literally in Brett's case
 * 79) [ I Can't Believe I'm Saying This]: Bridgette: "I hate to side with the walking rap sheet"
 * 80) [ I Don't Want to Ruin Our Friendship]
 * 81) [ I'm a Humanitarian]
 * 82) [ Inner Monologue]: Numerous situations where a character's thoughts are contrasted to his/her speech. The unspoken thought is invariably less diplomatic, expressing things ranging from exasperation to uncertainty to sexual arousal.
 * 83) [ It Only Works Once]: Katie attacks Chris. Additional examples in later chapters
 * 84) [ It's Always Sunny at Funerals]
 * 85) [ Lampshaded Double Entendre]: Alejandro has one of these in his conversation with Beth, when her tells her about how he almost had a horrendous That Came Out Wrong moment. The Storyteller also does this a few times.
 * 86) [ Leaning on the Fourth Wall]: Ezekiel does this during the dodgeball match when he makes a reference to fanfic pairings involving him
 * 87) [ Leitmotif]: When Chris has a life-threatening challenge planned, he uses the "Dies Irae" ("Judgement Day") from Verdi's Requiem as a wake-up call
 * 88) [ Let Me Get This Straight]
 * 89) [ Let's Get Dangerous]
 * 90) [ Lewd Lust, Chaste Sex]
 * 91) [ Literal Cliffhanger]
 * 92) [ Literal-Minded]: Lindsay, at times, because she's not intelligent enough to consistently understand figures of speech
 * 93) [ Loud of War]: For the first morning's wakeup call, Chris plays the "Dies Irae" from Verdi's Requiem "at cabin-shaking volume"
 * 94) [ Love Is In The Air]
 * 95) [ Manipulative Editing]: Several incidents, mostly geared to suggesting that the campers don't get along as well as they actually do. For the sake of drama, you know.
 * 96) [ Mating Dance]
 * 97) [ Mauve Shirt]: Alejandro is the only intern to be dignified with a name, and the only one to have actual scenes
 * 98) [ Memetic Sex God]: In-universe, this is an aspect of Cody's self-image. It has no discernable basis in reality
 * 99) [ Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal]
 * 100) [ Motive Rant]: D.J. has one of these
 * 101) [ Must Make Amends]
 * 102) [ My Life Flashed Before My Eyes]
 * 103) [ No Periods, Period]: During the diving challenge, the sharks go into a frenzy after smelling traces of Katie and Sadie's menstrual blood
 * 104) [ Odd Friendship]
 * 105) [ Ominous Latin Chanting]: The first elimination ceremony features this as Chris prepares to dispense the final marshmallow
 * 106) [ Open Mouth, Insert Foot]: Heather does this at the reunion. Believe it or not, she actually cares.
 * 107) [ Orchestral Bombing]: Music during the bicycle race re-enacting The Charge of the Light Brigade
 * 108) [ Our Ghosts Are Different]
 * 109) [ Our Vampires Are Different]: Giant man-eating lampreys. Is that different enough for you?
 * 110) [ Out Damned Spot]
 * 111) [ Out with a Bang]
 * 112) [ Out-of-Character Moment]: Beth's outburst on the lakeshore during the first challenge. Additional cases in later chapters
 * 113) Paper Cutting
 * 114) [ Parting From Consciousness Words]
 * 115) [ Pass the Popcorn]: Noah refers to this, and Gwen invokes the "selling tickets" variant whilst watching Katie and Sadie convince Chris to let them be on the same team. Additional examples in later chapters
 * 116) [ Playing Cyrano]
 * 117) [ Playing the Victim Card]: When Katie and Sadie are assigned to opposite teams, Sadie tries this on Chris in an attempt to guilt him into letting her and Katie be on the same team. The trope is subverted when Villain With Good Publicity Chris not only calls Sadie on it, but threatens to kick her out of the game on the spot if she ever tries it again.
 * 118) [ Politeness Judo]: One of the challenges is won this way
 * 119) [ Portmanteau Couple Name]: The Storyteller uses this once for a bit of alliteration
 * 120) [ Post-Dramatic Stress Disorder]
 * 121) [ Post-Kiss Catatonia]
 * 122) [ Product Placement]: Katie & Sadie's iPods during the orientation. Café Santropol (a Montreal restaurant) in a later chapter. The latter ties into the reason why the LTDI LeShawna comes from Montreal.
 * 123) [ Prophetic Names]: A result of Lindsay’s name butchery
 * 124) [ Punch Clock Villain]
 * 125) [ Put Off Their Food]
 * 126) [ Read The Fine Print]: When Chris tries to pull this on lawyer-to-be Courtney, she replies, "Don't give me that crap about fine print! I read the fine print!"
 * 127) [ Reality Ensues]
 * 128) [ Rodents of Unusual Size]: The Storyteller uses this phrase for the giant beavers of Boney Island
 * 129) [ Rule of Three]: There are several examples of this
 * 130) [ Say My Name]: LeShawna to Heather when LeShawna accidentally drives Heather off the cliff during the first challenge
 * 131) [ Scheherezade Gambit]: A couple of instances
 * 132) [ Sexy Coat Flashing]
 * 133) [ Shipper On Deck]: Widespread. Nobody spends a lot of time on it, but several campers get into the act. Shippers include Cody, Courtney, Geoff, Heather, Izzy, LeShawna, Katie, Lindsay and Sadie. Shippees include Beth, Cody, Courtney, Ezekiel, Gwen, Harold, Katie and Noah, as well as a “secret couple”.
 * 134) Shotgun Wedding
 * 135) [ Shrine To The Fallen]
 * 136) Signature Style
 * 137) [ Skinny Dipping]
 * 138) [ Something Else Also Rises]
 * 139) [ Spanner in the Works]
 * 140) Take That
 * 141) [ Taking You with Me]
 * 142) [ Tampering with Food and Drink]: When the campers first meet Chef Hatchet, Courtney asks rhetorically why he looks like an escaped serial killer. This trope is the reason why she takes care to speak too softly for him to hear.
 * 143) [ That Came Out Wrong]: Alejandro narrowly averts a horrendous example with Beth, then promptly lampshades it. Additional examples in later chapters.
 * 144) [ That's What She Said]: Cody gives a G-rated version of this, in a case where "she" really did say it. Played straight in a later incident.
 * 145) [ The Bus Came Back]: Several eliminated campers make guest appearances to help with one challenge or another
 * 146) [ The Cavalry Arrives Late]
 * 147) [ The Matchmaker]: Played straight in one instance, and subverted in another
 * 148) [ The Mole]
 * 149) [ The Napoleon]: The Storyteller explicitly casts Courtney in this light
 * 150) [ The Runnerup Takes It All]
 * 151) [ The Secret of Long Pork Pies]: Played with in one scene
 * 152) [ Thinking Out Loud]: During the orientation, Courtney makes the mistake of doing this in Lindsay's presence, and learns that Lindsay doesn't understand the concept of rhetorical questions
 * 153) [ This Is Your Premise On Drugs]: In-universe, Owen describes lampreys as "like leeches on steroids"
 * 154) [ Throwing The Fight]
 * 155) [ Tickle Torture]: This is how Katie and Sadie persuade Chris to let them be on the same team
 * 156) [ Time-Compression Montage]: The events surrounding Harold's funeral. Also, when a challenge spawns a side duel, Chris suggests that the duel will "make a great montage"
 * 157) [ True Companions]: Because the campers believe their lives are genuinely at risk after what happened to Harold, they will cross team and alliance lines for each other if it looks like someone is in serious trouble. This is also why the campers insist on properly memorializing Harold, approaching Hatchet when Chris refuses.
 * 158) [ Unexpected Inheritance]
 * 159) [ Unishment]: When Chef Hatchet stands in for Chris in an elimination ceremony, he makes elimination sound more like escape
 * 160) [ Villain Sue]: Whilst escorting Beth off the diving cliff, Alejandro tells her about the elimination game he used to be on, and says that he was so dominant that the audience would probably have regarded him as this had his show been a scripted story instead of a reality show. This lampshades the fact that Alejandro's canon counterpart was widely regarded as a Villain Stu.
 * 161) [ We Hardly Knew Ye]: Harold was on the island less than 24 hours
 * 162) [ Webcomic Time]: Chapters are published at intervals of weeks or months, but some chapters covers only a few hours' worth of events
 * 163) [ Wham Episode]: Third Night, which is where the campers realize what they’re in for. Additional examples later in the story
 * 164) [ Whole Plot Reference]: The bicycle racing challenge is explicitly based on Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem, "The Charge of the Light Brigade"
 * 165) [ Why Can't You Say Good Night?]
 * 166) [ Woman Scorned]: A variation occurs when, after Chris refuses to let Katie and Sadie be on the same team, they ruthlessly bend him to their will
 * 167) [ Worthy Opponent]: The finalists treat each other thusly, partly to spite Chris
 * 168) [ You Do NOT Want To Know]
 * 169) [ You Have Outlived Your Usefulness]: In one scene, Hatchet jokingly suggests to Chris that eliminated campers could be killed for a ratings "blood boost", because they would no longer have any other use
 * 170) [ You Have Researched Breathing]: After the beetle scene, Geoff expresses tongue-in-cheek surprise that Lindsay has reached this level of expertise