Last Post Standing, the sequel

[Gustavo6046]

Where?

It's on my hand. Look at my hand! Look at me! It's... an Air Flag!

[TexasGtar]

5 days without a neon knight trope saga.
Are you taking requests?

Why must we save the princess? Tell us please.

[Neon_Knight]

There you go...

Save the Princess

The defining Excuse Plot of the 8-bit era. A Damsel in Distress (whether it be the princess, your girlfriend, whatever) has been kidnapped and put in a tower, and you (and you alone, unless it's a 2-player game) must fight your way through a veritable army of evil minions, dodge horrific death traps, etc. to save her from the Big Bad. Your only reward is probably going to be a Smooch of Victory, unless you get the Standard Hero Reward. Hope she's worth it!

Your Princess Is in Another Castle! can also be a part of these games. Occasionally, the damsel might not be genuinely innocent. Once in a rare while, the villain will decide to Hypnotize the Princess and marry her.

The trope derives from the ancient concept of "Princess and Dragon", where The Hero must save a woman from an invading monster. This is usually used as a metaphor for real-life conflict.

Sometime after the arcade era, it became a Dead Horse Trope. While video games still feature the occasional princess in peril, rescuing them is only part of the overall plot; either that, or it's covered by the Grandfather Clause. In his book Power-Up: How Japanese Video Games Gave the World an Extra Life, Chris Kohler credits this progress to some Girl Gamers who wrote to Nintendo in The '80s to say they were tired of saving princesses; Nintendo eventually announced they'd stop using it as a final goal except in the Super Mario Bros. series. The trope's inversion, Princess Protagonist, where the princess is the main character, has grown in popularity as a way to keep making games about princesses while avoiding these criticisms.

This plot has become quite a popular target for variants and newer references to it in popular culture can be classed with Pac Man Fever. For a similarly overused plot, see Fake King.

Named because it's often a princess. As such, a subtrope of Gratuitous Princess.

[EvilGrins]

Save the Princess

[TexasGtar]

There you go...

Save the Princess

Good stuff.

[Gustavo6046]

I'm pointing up! Ya can't see?!

[Neon_Knight]

Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling

In media, there's a tendency for siblings to be portrayed as opposites. Enter the Foolish Sibling and the Responsible Sibling.

In this trope there will be one sibling who is foolish, usually acting melodramatically and prone to doing irresponsible and impulsive things. They may be louder, more outgoing and usually more popular (or at least try to be), and desiring attention, especially from the opposite sex. Usually, they don't have outright bad intentions, they just don't understand that anything they do can have consequences for themselves or other people. Alternatively, they may just be a Horrible Judge of Character and get involved with the wrong people on a regular basis; they refuse to believe their "friends" could be anything but pure of heart, despite obvious evidence to the contrary. Their antics will be their undoing, getting them into trouble for which there is no one but themselves to blame. The Foolish Sibling may be a Bratty Teenage Daughter, Alpha Bitch, Fille Fatale, Childish Older Sibling, Annoying Younger Sibling, The Casanova, Manchild, NEET, or The Ingenue.

The other sibling is usually the elder of the two and will follow all the rules about how one is supposed to act and behave, being an exemplary version of a Proper Lady or The Dutiful Son. They're often more of a parental figure in the other sibling's life, even if their actual parents are still present. They might be quieter or plainer, though usually they are only quiet or plain by comparison to their obnoxious other sibling, and doesn't qualify as a Shrinking Violet or The Quiet One at all. They're almost undoubtedly smarter though and may be portrayed as a Bookworm, or just very concerned about rules, social and moral. Generally, the responsible sibling will try to steer their foolish sibling to the right path, taking it on themselves to look after the kid and make attempts to curb the other sibling's behavior. This seldom works, however, at least not until the end, when the foolish sibling gets their comeuppance or realizes the error of their ways.

They may serve as a Betty and Veronica pair. The responsible sibling is the one who will submit to an Arranged Marriage, which may be a Perfectly Arranged Marriage and is generally happier than the foolish love match of the foolish sibling.

A subtrope of Sibling Yin-Yang. Usually involves An Aesop about the right way to act, that is to say, be more like the responsible sibling and not the foolish sibling (although the responsible sibling may learn a lesson about "loosening up" and "having fun"). And while the responsible sibling is usually the elder of the two, the roles can be switched, with the younger sibling being the responsible one. Another possibility is a middle child being the responsible one to his or her older and younger siblings. Also compare Slobs vs. Snobs, Red Oni, Blue Oni, Right Way/Wrong Way Pair, The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry, and Cain and Abel.

[Hellkeeper]

Copy/pasting from tvtropes is unimaginative, lazy, weak, and a sure signe that you're from a political faction the reader disagrees with, so you are disqualified. I'm the last poster in this thread anyway. Hail me.

[EvilGrins]

Sorry, I've misplaced my reading glasses... what did you say?

[Hellkeeper]

I'm the last poster in this thread anyway. Hail me.

[EvilGrins]

Hail...

...me!

[Gustavo6046]

Sorry, I ate the Submit button.

[OjitroC]

Oh no, why did you do that!!!?? No clouds to eat??

[Gustavo6046]

Well, it wasn't my Submit button. That one I'm still keeping around.

Also, it was strategic! Totally not just eating random stuff.

Wallaby tummy hurties :<

[Neon_Knight]

Mouth of Sauron

A character may be strictly He Who Must Not Be Seen, but they need to transmit orders to their subordinates and intimidate their enemies.

The solution? Hire this guy. His job (although sometimes not his only job) is to talk for (and sometimes even impersonate) the real He Who Must Not Be Seen, who often is standing somewhere in the background.

The Mouth of Sauron often serves as The Dragon and/or Number Two, and can sometimes be a villainous counterpart to a Supporting Leader: when the real villain is in the background pulling strings, he needs someone to go out and lead his Evil Army against the forces of good.

Sometimes, the Mouth of Sauron is set up to be the Big Bad and is even believed to be so by everyone except the real Big Bad's most trusted advisers. In this case, it overlaps with The Man Behind the Man.

While many examples and the Trope Namer are villainous, this is not necessarily an "evil-only" trope: any heroic Mysterious Employer is likely to have one, and this is frequently the role played by the Archangel Gabriel (or, as shown by the page quote and plenty of examples here, Metatron) regarding the big guy himself.