Magic Carpet (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
gimmesometassel) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
bakerstreet2018-06-08 05:08 pm
gimmesometassel) wrote in bakerstreet2018-06-08 05:08 pm
Entry tags:
Trope Ball Meme
Source
Sometimes, things in a canon just plain don't make sense or flow in a way that feels organic. Plots railroad characters along whether they want to be or not, forcing them to act out of character, plummet down bewildering plot holes, run into coincidences just a little too convenient, or bend or break the established rules of the universe for the sake of drama. While real life can be messy and chaotic, everything in a story happens for a reason. Have the characters ever noticed these strange, inexplicable narrative contrivances? Have they ever thought that things just shouldn't have happened the way they did?
Well, there's no need to wonder about them any longer--suddenly, their eyes have been opened to the source of these disturbances. Gremlins! These tiny, monstrous supernatural creatures are normally unable to be directly perceived or interacted with, as they operate on a level one step removed from reality as characters know it. Not only are characters now aware of them, however, but also of the intangible narrative driving forces they tinker with--which appear as balls of all shapes, sizes, and substances. Maybe they're stealing the luck, competence, and badassery of a love interest suffering from Chickification to give to the protagonist instead, maybe they're forcing obliviousness of crucial details onto a villain who's slated to be defeated, or maybe they're monkeying around with someone's morality in order to force them into a Heel Face Turn redemption arc that doesn't seem realistic for their mindset at all. Whatever it is they're doing, though, they're messing with the natural progression of characters and plot, seemingly to make it all neatly fit into some predetermined storyline orchestrated by a higher power.
How will characters use their new knowledge and power? Will they try to tame or enslave the creatures, so they can wreak havoc as they see fit? Will they exact vengeance over unfairly being toyed with, or feel guilty over being handed world-bending protagonist powers without earning them? Will they try to steal the right to graduate from being a background character and have a story of their own, or try to distribute things more equitably among a large ensemble cast?
Directions:
♦ Crawl out of TV Tropes long enough to play. (Sorry about that.)
♦ Post a top level with your character's name, canon, and any preferences you may have.
♦ Please don't post any blank top levels. Prompts are highly encouraged, but you don't need to write starters yourself if you don't want to; just give people something to work with.
♦ Choose the numbers you want to play with, or RNG it for random fun!
♦ Tag around! Seriously, try going out on a limb and hitting up people you don't know, or top levels that have no comments. You might make a new friend, and you'll almost certainly make someone's day.
What the hell happened?
1. Fell down the Plot Hole: You have no idea what's going on, let alone why or how. You just woke up this morning and the world was just..... like this.
2. Suspension of Belief: Okay, there's no way that really just happened. You're calling bullshit on the world itself. Your suspension of disbelief has shattered--and behind the looking glass, your suspicions are being confirmed.
3. Supersanity: You've always had this power, or obtained it through some variety of magic, mad science, super powers, or other Shenanigans. This is common knowledge to you, whether anyone else ever believes you or not. Either someone else has finally gone as crazy as you, you've managed to drag someone else into it deliberately, or you and your equally genre savvy friend just decided to finally do something about the state of the world.
4. Fridge Logic: Come up with another explanation yourself! I won't stifle your creativity.
Play Ball!
1. Advantage Ball: Everyone wants one of these! As long as you're holding it, everything's coming up roses for you. You're stronger, faster, luckier, more energetic, more confident, and just overall have the edge and morale to triumph. Better hold on tight, though--it has an inconvenient tendency to change hands at the drop of a hat. Isn't it more exciting that way?
2. Conflict Ball: Fite me! You're really looking for trouble today, and it's probably completely unnecessary and blown far out of proportion to what it really should be. Happiness and harmony are nice, but they're boring; this ball will always spice things up.
3. Distress Ball: Everyone knows about the Power of Love and Friendship, and that there's strength in numbers, and that splitting up is just begging for trouble. Sorry, but this ball will guarantee that you're the damsel in distress, possibly through blatantly out of character short-sightedness or impulsive decisions. That doesn't mean you can't rescue yourself, but it does mean you're almost certainly going to get kidnapped or ambushed for the fifth time this week. People who carry this ball chronically without anyone to save them are often trauma or angst magnets with tragic backstories--and for some reason, it seems to get tossed at female characters a lot more often. Maybe the gremlins or their hypothetical masters are sexist?
4. Idiot Ball: You're supposed to be the smart one! You're the only member of the team with glasses! So why are you acting like you spent an hour beating your head against a brick wall? There's a simple, obvious solution right in front of you, but hell if you can grasp it. Maybe you even know fully well how stupid you're acting, but just feel compelled to pick the worst possible option anyway. How can you get rid of this ball, anyway? Maybe if you weren't holding it, you could figure out a solution...
5. Hero Ball: If you're a protagonist, you may have this one handed to you on a silver platter to hang onto more or less permanently--you're just effortlessly luckier, stronger, more powerful, more important, and better than your peers, because of who or what you are. For some reason, you're the one with the important destiny, and the opportunity to Do Things and change the world, and consequences don't always stick around, even if they really should. If you're lucky, your friends are supportive of how special you are, rather than overwhelmingly jealous of how the world bends over backwards to accommodate you. Want to pass the spotlight to someone else for a while? Or maybe you'd rather hang onto it, but someone else is looking to steal your thunder. Just be careful--this one has a tendency to cause you to make stupidly heroic decisions to stretch the plot out longer or heighten dramatic tension. Good thing your Plot Armor means everything will work out in the end, huh? Oh, wait--if you lose the ball, you lose that, too.
6. Villain Ball: You're a Card Carrying Villain, and nothing is going to stop you from acting that role to the hilt. Why just shoot the hero, when you could leave them to a needlessly complicated and easily escapable death trap after gloating about your secret plans? Your villainous goals might be better served by kinder or more honest means, but pointless cruelty, chewing the scenery, and maniacal laughter are important parts of your image! You have a reputation to maintain! People carrying this ball are especially prone to making stupid mistakes, avoiding pragmatism in favor of drama and aesthetics, adding needless complexity to their plans, and leaving easily exploitable loopholes to make themselves easier to thwart, no matter how overwhelming an advantage they initally have.
7. Smart Ball: Nobody expects you to be the one coming up with bright ideas or creative solutions to things. You're probably known for being spacey, dumb, apathetic, or just plain weird. So why are you suddenly a fountain of brilliance? As long as you're hanging onto this ball, your intelligence, problem solving skills, strategizing, and creativity are through the roof. What's it like having the answer to all of life's problems?
8. Snark Ball: Okay, so maybe you're not solving the plot singlehandedly. Still, your banter game is seriously on point today. Everyone you talk to could cut themselves on that razor sharp wit; you're dealing out sick burns left and right. But since when have you had such a way with words, or the will to roast someone with them like this? You're not usually a sass master.
9. Jerkass Ball: Woah, who pissed in your Cheerios? You may be the sweetest, most harmless person in the world most of the time, but today? You're kicking puppies left and right, stealing candy from babies, pressing people's buttons just because you can, and just generally being an uncharacteristic asshole. Until you let go of this ball, you're probably not going to get along with anyone.
10. Kindness Ball: You may normally be just an asshole, or even an omnicidal maniac of a supervillain... but today you're all sunshine, rainbows, sparkles, unicorns, and fluffy kittens.You just can't help being nice! Maybe even at times you shouldn't be. Are you enjoying your fluff, or appalled at all the hard-earned machisimo, badassery, fearsomeness, and street cred you're destroying?
11. Sanity Ball: You're the Only Sane Man around here, the straight man for everyone's Shenanigans to contrast against, even if you're usually the one behind all this chaos. What do you think of this (possibly new) perspective above it all--or the realization that sooner or later, someone's probably going to drag you down into the madness?
12. Strawman Ball: You're wrong. You're obviously, blatantly, irrationally wrong. Why do you even have this opinion? Is it in line with your personality at all? Why aren't you using good arguments to back your position up? Better try tossing this ball at someone else if you ever want to win a debate.
13. Fanservice Ball: The obligatory sexy option. Are you stuck wearing clothing your career, climate, or personality suggests you really shouldn't own? Do you chronically walk around shirtless for no apparent reason? Are you constantly having your clothes damaged, stuck into plans involving charming or seducing people, or doing or saying things that inadvertently come across as innuendo? Maybe you want to get rid of this ball, or maybe you embrace your charms--or maybe you're desperately chasing after it, in hopes of manipulating others with your wiles or just getting senpai to notice you.
14. Comic Relief Ball: Nobody takes you seriously, do they? Maybe you're a buttmonkey, or exist to be made fun of, or only known for one comically exaggerated trait. If you could just get rid of this pesky ball, maybe you'd actually get a chance to be respected and competent for once! ...Of course, that would also open you up to all the danger and trauma that normally slides off of comic relief characters like Teflon.
15. Miscommunication Ball: Have you ever noticed how many problems could be solved if people could just communicate better? If you've got this ball, you're plagued by yourself or others acting on misunderstandings; having trouble getting a point across; an inability to ask clarifying questions; being needlessly cryptic or speaking in riddles and metaphors; and people just plain being unable to communicate in an honest, open, straightforward manner.
16. Artistic License: The plot demands more choices! Poke around pages like this one, or make up your own thing to play with.
Magic Carpet | Disney's Aladdin | OTA
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A) 3-9
B) 1-4
C) 3-1
... and re-rolled for first numbers bc meant to take out the "build your own adventure" for the RNG. xD ))
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Go ahead, be a jerkass to the innocent rug doggo, you monster. =PI mean, you're the one who gets it this thread, so it should probably be up to you? I'm down with any of them, but the advantage one would need some context as to what the hell they're actually doing.))Rudolph | Holy Glory (some manga where santa is grumpy and reindeer are bishi)
1-10?
[The North Pole is not a very hospitable place. Needless to say, seeing wildlife of any sort around the castle is incredibly rare. It's why Noël's first question is what the gremlin is doing sneaking around in the halls, before even wondering what it is.
He approaches slowly and cautiously, summoning his cane to his hand--only to break into a run as the creature realizes it's going to be cornered and bolts. What kind of disturbing looking animal like this isn't up to no good, if it's skulking around and flees when noticed?]
Hey! Get back here!
sounds good to me!
[ That sure is the first thing this Santa's hearing after he takes off that last time.
But at least Rudolph won't be waiting around to see if he responds. Clearly something urgent is happening here, so he's going to be helping chase down the thing he's yet to so much as get a glimpse at (well, he assumes he can get answers while they're running, so).
Even if he can't begin to know what the heck's gotten into Salt, now isn't the time for questions! Only chases! ]
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[Does this thing honestly think it can outmaneuver him in his own home? He brandishes his cane with a short, sharp flick of the wrist; a cold wind roars down the corridor, slamming doors shut and sending the little creature tumbling head over heels with the force of the gust. It throws something at him, probably its last defense while it's lying there prone--
A snowball? It feels..... strangely warm, though.....
No time to think about it now; it's not like a handful of snow could hurt him. Noël ignores it in favor of diving for his quarry, grabbing the gremlin by the scruff and holding it well away from him as it struggles. Better let Rudolph get a good look at the thing and see if he recognizes it, right? It doesn't look or feel like any monster he's ever seen, but Rudolph's got decades more experience than he does.....]
There. Just what do you think you're doing?
Goro Akechi | Persona 5 | OTA
Jughead Jones | Archie Comics
Sephiroth | Final Fantasy 7 Compilation | ota
Demyx | Kingdom Hearts | OTA
Non-canonly, 7, 8, 11, or 13 might be funny? 6 or especially 5 would be completely ridiculous, and he'd be eager to get rid of them; he's genre savvy enough to realize that awful things tend to happen to heroes and big bads.
At any rate, hit me up with any ideas you have! Kingdom Hearts is amazing for enabling effortless world hopping.]
Insector Haga / YuGiOh / OTA
Kokichi Oma | Danganronpa V3 | OTA
However, outside of canon he will definitely use these newfound plot powers for mischief. Idiots are funny.]
Wyman Manderly | A Song of Ice and Fire | OTA
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King Mettaton | Undertale | ota
Mr. Wrench | Fargo