Survival of the Fittest: Difference between revisions

[[File:Alignment_1384.png|frame|The game takes all kinds]]

 

 

 

The premise is simple: a class of [[Ordinary High School Student|high-school students]] are abducted on the way to their end-of-year trip, fitted with [[Explosive Leash|collars]], given randomly distributed weapons and are dropped onto [[Deserted Island|an unknown island]] to fight their former peers until [[There Can Only Be One|one remains alive]]. What ensues is [[Better Than It Sounds|drama, action, comedy, and most important, tragedy]] all rolled into a single RP. Gradually, over each "season", more and more secrets are revealed behind [[Big Bad|Danya]] and the terrorist organization which has managed to keep this twisted act running for over three years.

The roleplay is geared primarily towards intermediate-advanced level writers. SOTF ''is'' open for anyone to join - although there is a member approval process in place, as well as a rigorous character acceptance system.

 

 

 

 

For reference, those RPing characters are called 'handlers' on the board, so if you see SotF examples using the word, this is what is meant by it.

If you [[I Thought It Meant|thought this page was about]] the slogan used to summarise the theory of evolution and later appropriated by people who consider themselves fit, you're looking for [[The Social Darwinist]].

 

== General ==

* [[Abusive Parents]]: This occurs very often, although most of the more obvious examples can be found within the first two games. For some, such as Mariavel Varella, this is a defining part of their [[Backstory]].

* [[All There in the Manual]]: A lot of extra information about the students, including their background and even appearance, is included in their profiles.

* [[Break the Cutie]]/[[Break the Haughty|Haughty]]: This happens ''a lot...'' Though given the nature of the story and the game, is that really so surprising?

* [[Bulletproof Vest]]: Subverted for the most part - in SOTF, these tend to be treated very realistically. However, this is also played straight in the case of Shannon McLocke, who takes a close range shotgun blast to the chest and gets up with barely a scratch.

* [[Cloudcuckoolander]]: Mitch Gunther, Anna Kateridge, Cisco Vasquez, Lily Ainsworth, Maria Graham, and Annaliese Hanson are definitely this:

** Mitch:

* [[Improbable Weapon User]]: Due to the sick sense of humour of [[Big Bad|Danya]] in ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'', bobble-head dolls and plastic hammers have been known to come into play as assigned weapons.

* [[Killed Off for Real]]: Subverted in the case of the v3 escapees and Burton Harris (the ''first'' time each of them were 'killed', that is)

* [[Lampshade Hanging]]: Has proven to be quite common. For example:

{{quote|'''Melina Frost''': Go on then... show him why we're called the Poison Angles [sic].

* [[Sinister Surveillance]]: The cameras all around the Island, along with the collars track everything the students are doing.

* [[Sure Why Not]]: A staff member once joked that one of the terrorist programmers Dennis Lourvey paid his way through MIT by being a male stripper. This was quickly accepted as canon. Similar 'throw it in' moments happen at a startling rate.

* [[Your Head Asplode]]: Collar detonation. Stay in a danger zone too long, try to remove the collar, suffer an unfortunate impact, get used as an example by Danya to try to scare off SADD or Liz Polanski...

 

* [[Ironic Nursery Tune]]: Cillian Crowe singing 'happy birthday' to himself, while not exactly a nursery rhyme, embodies this trope perfectly. That is, if you consider that he was currently thinking about ''killing'' the person he was talking to at the time - insisting on showing him his 'present' (a meat cleaver).

* [[Is This Thing Still On?]]: Terrorists McLocke, Kaige and Rice accidentally activate the PA system in their headquarters, treating the students to a charming rendition of a [[Slash Fic]] (involving two ''of'' the students) they found on the web. [[Bad Boss|Danya]] is not pleased, particularly when they go from reading the fic to insulting him and the entire organisation.

* [[Made of Iron]]: While there were other examples, Jacob Starr has been the most egregious example by far. The SOTF community's term for this trope - the Jacob Treatment - was even named after him.

* [[My Greatest Failure]]: Adam Dodd doesn't only have one of these, but two. The first of these is allowing himself to become separated from the other members of his group - among them his girlfriend and other close buddies of his. {{spoiler|They all proceed to be killed, and in one case, raped}}. Adam, of course, blames himself for this. His second stems from an incident where his (mentally unstable) brother attacked him. Adam regrets throughout version 1 his failure to forgive his older brother {{spoiler|until one of the very last scenes of the V1 endgame}}.

* [[Motive Rant]]: Melina Frost does this before attacking Dacey Ashcroft and Herman Johnson. Ironically, [[Bifauxnen|Dacey]] [[Sweet Polly Oliver|isn't a guy]].

{{quote|'''Melina:''' You know? I never really liked men. Do you know why? It's because they always WANT something. Did you know that? Well, obviously you do. Men constantly WANT. They want to hold you, touch you, kiss you. They want to make you THEIRS. But? I never really liked that you know. That's why, instead of letting them TAKE whatever they want? I decided to WANT and TAKE from them first!}}

* [[My Nayme Is]]: Ivye Dewley and Khrysta Lawrence.

* [[Near-Rape Experience]]: J.R. Rizzolo's torture of Laeil Burbank ALMOST starts out with a rape scene, but then Riz decides it'd be a better idea to [[Eye Scream|cut out her eye instead]]. This was due to Riz' writer planning a rape scene, but deciding at the last minute that he wasn't up for it.

* [[Offhand Backhand]]: Bobby Jacks pulls off the firearm based version with Andy McCann. Bobby hears the latter cry out behind him and shoots him in the head with a pistol without even turning around.

* [[Paper Cutting]]: Maxie Dasai gets hit in the face [[Annoying Arrows|by an arrow]] and comes away with a minor wound across her cheek, somehow managing to avoid any serious harm.

* [[Poisoned Weapons]]: Blood Boy's assigned weapons were an Ida (an African sword) and a vial of poison meant to be applied to the blade.

* [[Poor Communication Kills]]: Simon Wood mistakes Darnell Butler for a player of the game (not altogether unreasonable, as he is holding a bloodied sword) and attacks to [[Heroic Sacrifice|buy his girlfriend time to escape]]. Before Darnell can get the chance to explain, he has {{spoiler|accidentally killed Simon.}}

* [[Taking You with Me]]: Melina Frost from kills Beth Vandelinder this way. After the latter stabbed another almost fatally and left her to die in quicksand, the former grabbed hold of her hair in her last act and dragged Beth under with her, killing them both.

* [[The Fatalist]]: Adam Reeves in Survival of the Fittest. Also a Social Darwinist.

* [[The Messiah]]: Neil Sinclair. No matter how many times he is knocked back by more [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism|cynical or pessimistic]] characters, he keeps on trying, time and again, to gather as many students he can in an attempt to escape. His hugely idealist approach includes but is not limited to inviting a classmate into the group who had previously ''killed'' one of the other members of his group - S.A.D.D.

* [[The Only One Allowed to Defeat You]]: In a fight between [[Psycho Lesbian|Laeil Burbank]] and [[Evil Redheads|Melina Frost]], Madison Conner suddenly appears and attacks Laeil to keep her from killing Melina before she can. Laeil also swears to be the only one to kill Melina, as well as kill anyone who tries to beat her to it. {{spoiler|She fails on both accounts as Melina and her killer [[Mutual Kill|kill each other]]. [[Villainous Breakdown|She doesn't take it well.]]}}

* [[The Unfavourite]]: Lyn "Laeil" Burbank. While actually a niece rather than a daughter, her uncle and aunt still give her the same unfavorite treatment, treating her like something that just has to be tolerated, while lavishing all their attention on her [[Jerk Jock]] cousin, Anthony, who regularily makes her life hell. Once she's on the island, though, it isn't long before she gets [[Cain and Abel|bloody revenge]] on him.

* [[The Unpronounceable]]: Vilhjalmur Sigurbjornsson. Though his first name is often shortened down to [[Some Call Me... Tim|Will]], his last name still causes problems for Danya.

* [[What Happened to the Mouse?]]: During the big stand-off between SADD and Bobby Jacks, Arty Williams stumbled onto the scene with a password-locked cell phone, upon which he tossed SADD the cell phone (telling them the password,) telling them it might be their ticket to getting off the island before running off to get himself killed in a (failed) attempt to save Ivan Roeghmills from a hostage situation. SADD decides to honor his noble sacrifice by never mentioning him or the phone ever again.

* [[While Rome Burns]]: A particularly notable version occurs, where Carson Baye plays on his DS while a gunfight is starting around him.

* [[All Drummers Are Animals]]: Maria "[[Lampshade Hanging|Animal]]" Graham, certified [[Cloudcuckoolander]], plays the drums for Blank Nation.

* [[All Girls Want Bad Boys]]: Rosa Fiametta's attraction to JJ Sturn, despite the fact he's pretty much a [[Jerkass]] (whilst they're dating, at least). This backfires on her in a major way.

* [[Axe Crazy]]: {{spoiler|Jimmy Brennan, Liam "Brook" Brooks, and Cisco Vasquez.}}

* [[Badass]]: Aston Bennett starts out relatively unassuming, but when she gets revenge on {{spoiler|Quincy Jones}} for an earlier misfortune, she gets ''scary.''

* [[Companion Cube]]: Jake Crimson and his cinderblock.

* [[Crash Into Hello]]: Reiko Ishida and Sarah Xu meet this way.

* [[Dead Person Conversation]]: Albert Lions comes across the body of his friend {{spoiler|1=Augustus MacDougal}}, and then right away he sees his ghost. Augustus follows Albert around, the pair conversing like normal ({{spoiler|Dougal}} even has to remind Albert that only he can see him). Whether Dougal's ghost is real or just a figment of Albert's imagination is unknown.

** Later, Simon Telamon falls asleep, after which he manages to remove his collar, only to engage in conversation with his girlfriend {{spoiler|Clio Gabriella, who had died two days previously}}. She herself reveals that the entire thing is a [[Talking in Your Dreams|dream]].

* [[Fan Service]]: Invoked by Andrea Raymer when Danya begins randomly detonating students' collars in retaliation to Liz Polanksi.

{{quote|'''Andrea:''' ''"And uh, Danya, if you want to see more crazy shirtless Andrea, don't blow my collar!"''}}

* [[French Jerk]]: Alice Boucher is an example of this [[Trope]]: one of her biggest regrets about being in America is that she doesn't know any insults in English. Due to [[Character Development]] after being put on the island (as well as a change in writer), she grows out of this '''''very''''' quickly though.

* [[Genki Girl]]: Maria Graham, who's an odd mix of [[Genki Girl]], [[Cloudcuckoolander]], and [[Stepford Smiler]].

* [[Human Shield]]: Occurs early on, where Gracie Wainright attempts to rob Anna Chase (who is [[Blind Without'Em|not wearing her glasses]]) and Kitty Gittschall. After being threatened by Kitty and hit by Kyle Portman, Gracie is just distracted enough for Anna to attempt to run away. However, she is quickly caught and held by the hair by Gracie, taking her hostage in an attempt to hold off Kitty and Kyle, so she can rob Anna in peace.

* [[I Call It Vera]]: Appears often. Hayley Kelly actually calls her gun Vera.

* [[Instant Awesome, Just Add Ninja]]: Richard Han, while not actually a ninja, goofs off and pretends to be one for most of his time on the island. Which makes his first appearance on the island (being stuck in a tree) and {{spoiler|his death by misstepping and falling off a mountain}} that much more funnier.

* [[Ironic Nickname]]: Meredith Hemmings is occasionally referred to as "Merry". [[Emo Teen|She isn't]].

{{quote|'''Ema:''' I'm Ema, Ema Ryan. Sounds like the normal but only one 'm'. My parents were hipsters, I guess.}}

* [[Nice Guy]]: It happens. For example, [[Sacrificial Lamb|Reika Ishida]], in contrast to her [[Psycho Lesbian|sister]]. One of her defining traits was that she was nice and friendly, always trying to help out. However, true to the stereotype, she literally gets killed within almost two minutes once she gets to the island. Danya in the following announcement then called her "the less interesting of the Ishida sisters" for this reason.

* [[No Good Deed Goes Unpunished]]: {{spoiler|Luke Templeton}} talks {{spoiler|Clio Gabriella}} out of commiting suicide and generally helps her out. How does she repay him? By shooting him in the chest and head.

* [[Nothing Is Scarier]]: {{spoiler|Rose Codreanu's}} death. She goes to sleep in a danger zone during the announcements but before it's announced as one, and has a calm, happy, introspective dream... with a constant beeping increasing in frequency throughout. Then, in the middle of a sentence, it cuts off with the notice that she's deceased. Very much a break from the usual [[Gorn]] deaths.

* [[Pint-Sized Powerhouse]]: Reiko Ishida is 4'9, which has been noted to technically make her a midget. However, she was an athlete before the island, and eventually racks up a high kill count.

* [[Please Wake Up]]: This is {{spoiler|Albert Lions'}} reaction to finding {{spoiler|1=Augustus "Dougal" MacDougal's}} corpse.

* [[Pointless Band-Aid]]: Orn "Dutchy" Ayers is mentioned as wearing a Band-Aid over the bridge of his nose. [[Word of God|His profile confirms]] that this is more of a personality quirk/casual accessory than the result of an injury.

* [[Rapunzel Hair]]: Bridget Connolly, who is well-known for having knee-length red hair, though usually tied back. This was until she cut it while on the island, after hearing about {{spoiler|the death of her best friend, Raina Morales.}}

* [[Sanity Slippage]]: Aston Bennett, after her only remaining friend is killed, starts to lose it a little, as evident by [[Painting the Fourth Wall|the text.]]

* [[Self-Sacrifice Scheme]]: {{spoiler|Ethan Kent}} manages this by rigging up a power system that would activate the island's only computer, but upon realising he could do it, he also realised that doing so would alert Danya. What he does is {{spoiler|insult Feo Smith, his only travelling companion, into leaving him, writes down the instructions on how to turn on the computer, and smashes all the cameras in the location, thus provoking Danya into blowing his collar. It ultimately pays off - a group of students manages to follow the instructions and broadcasts the location of the island, which in combination with Liz Polanski's own attempts to screw with Danya, [[Big Damn Heroes|allows for STAR to rescue a good number of the students.]]}}

* [[Shrinking Violet]]: Gloria Benson. She's always whispering, stuttering, ''and'' blushing when she speaks. Even when she talks to her friends, she's painfully shy/quiet, and keeps apologizing for what she says. Lucy Ashmore, also from v4, qualifies as well. She's just as shy, due to [[All of the Other Reindeer|bullying]]. Not to mention sometimes this slides into [[Cute Clumsy Girl]] territory as well, due to her nervousness.

* [[Sibling Rivalry]]: Remy Kim and Josee Trembley, who both see themselves as [[The Unfavorite]] to their mother, and have been known to attempt to "regain" her love from the other twin.

{{quote|''He lifted it up to his collar, he knew he was told not to mess with them, but if he was going to survive and win, he would need the damn thing off, let him travel through the danger zones.''}}

* [[Too Kinky to Torture]]: A non-sexual variant, where Rein Bumgarner is well-known for enjoying pain, enjoying the adrenaline rush that it gives him. As a result, he actually attempts dangerous stunts partly for this reason.

* [[Use Your Head]]: The death of {{spoiler|David Anderson}} via a well-placed headbutt to the face, breaking his nose and sending bits of bone into his brain.

* [[Victoria's Secret Compartment]]: Pre-game has a bizarre example, where a character puts around ''6 to 8 jello shots'' down her bra. Needless to say, this reached [[Memetic Mutation]] very quickly.

* [[Body Horror]]: Many of the "powers" in ''Evolution'' fall into this. Some are pretty "standard" as powers go, such as [[The Power of the Sun|solar-powered]] [[Super Strength]] and invisibility, "memory absorption", [[Telepathy]], and [[Shock and Awe|control over electricity]], while others are pretty [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?|pathetic]]. Others, however, include things such as mold growing from the mouth and a character developing cat-like claws that are poisonous. The most notable one, though, goes to Johnny Marsh's "power", in which his ''skin'' is invisible, but the rest of him (muscles, organs, etc.) ''aren't''. This, of course, means that his muscles are completely visible like an anatomical model. This receives a [[Lampshade Hanging]] when the scientists puts a full-body scuba suit on him to avoid him scaring the other subjects and interfering with the research. And then there's Billy-Jay Clarke's death in which he suffers a power malfunction, causing his [[Eye Scream|eyes to catch fire and melt out of their sockets]]...

** {{spoiler|Not to mention what happens when Cavery is 'absorbed' by Dr. Botchi...}}

* [[Bunny Ears Lawyer]]: Brigadier General David Adams of ''The Program''. His antics include spontaneously breaking into the American national anthem during an announcement (when he's supposed to be reeling off who died), making bizarre jokes, contradicting himself midsentence and thinking out loud (both also in announcements). For all that, The Program was ''his'' idea, and given the setting, there's no possible way he can be an incompetent leader or tactician.

* [[Character Blog]]: [http://sotftv.blogspot.com/ Survival of the Snarkiest], which is an in-universe [[Television Without Pity]] style blog for ''SOTF-TV''.

* [[Companion Cube]]: An odd example pops up in ''SOTF-TV'', with Shawn Morrison and a ''dead'' snake. For bonus points? He also uses it as an [[Improvised Weapon]]. ''Virtua'' has Sycanus Appletin and Tobeyn, her teddy bear.

* [[Coup De Grace]]: In ''Virtua'', {{spoiler|Delilah Rivers}} performs one on {{spoiler|Patrick Reynolds}} by stabbing him in the heart after she sliced through his abdomen.

* [[Darker and Edgier]]: ''The Program'' is perhaps one of the darkest and most serious reditions of SOTF, even surpassing v1 and v2 in its [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism|bleakness and hopelessness.]]

* [[Deliberate Values Dissonance]]: ''The Program'' is pretty much based entirely on this trope. It's set in a militaristic, extreme nationalist version of [[Eagle Land|America]] [[Twenty Minutes in The Future]]. So, there's a fair amount of this. Most notably, as a result of their nationalist upbringings, many characters are to some extent xenophobic and treat "foreign" looking people not too kindly, which is most prominently seen with Japanese-American [[The Woobie|Marilyn Williams]] and [[Angry Black Man]] Bryant Carver.

* [[Depraved Bisexual]]: SOTF-TV's Marvia Jones. See [[Kick the Dog]] for elaboration. [[Word of Gay|Her handler]] has confirmed her as such. Shortly after that incident, she teams-up with Harold Finston Smythe, [[Ax Crazy|by far one of the least stable characters on the island]].

{{quote|{{spoiler|''Johan Luther:''}} "There is in fact no such thing as art for art's sake."}}

** From the same, Logan Sorenson's last words, directed at the camera, "[[Abusive Parents|Dad]]... before I go, I just want you to know... [[Troll|I know where you buried those hookers.]]"

* [[Five-Man Band]]: All of the teams in ''SOTF-TV'' to an extent.

* [[Friends with Benefits]]: Sterling Odair and Amber Lyons from TV, along with (apparently) Kevin Fielding with Jeanette Buendia, David Myerez with Sidney Rice, and Jacob Langston with Mikaela Warner. In the latter's case, the "benefits" part of the arrangement ended when Jacob got in a more serious relationship with Madelyn Conner.

* [[Full-Frontal Assault]]: Jay Harland pulled this off on Ashlie Jackson in ''Evolution'' as his practical solution to his nocturnal invisibility powers [[Invisible Streaker|not extending to his clothes]].

* [[Goth]]: Kiera McDonald from ''Evolution'' and Jaqueline "Cameo" Conroy from ''Virtua'', the former of the [[Perky Goth]] variety and the latter played straight to the stereotype.

* [[He Who Must Not Be Heard]]: Joel Deitrick of ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'': Evolution is notable for not speaking at all during his time on the island, his only lines of actual dialogue coming from flashbacks. Similar from ''Virtua'' is Simon Mattheson, who is also [[The Speechless]].

{{quote|''David? really?'' he scolded himself, ''Did you just name your crossbow? And what's more, did you name your crossbow David? As in [[Don't Explain the Joke|David]] [[David Bowie|Bow-ie?]] [[Lampshade Hanging|How the fuck did you come up with such a stupid pun on such short notice?'']]}}

** Having returned for ''Second Chances'', Megan named her stun gun [[Nicholas Sparks|Nikoletta Sparks]], or Nicky for short.

* [[Infectious Insanity]]: Sycanus Appletin in ''Virtua''. Shortly after she had an encounter with Simon Mattheson, she too started to hear voices.

* [[Instrument of Murder]]: ''The Program'' had John Ferrara use, of all things, a banjo to beat Matthew Gourlay to a pulp.

* [[Love Martyr]]: Zachariah Johnston.

* [[Mad Artist]]: ''The Program's'' Madeline Harris, who is killing people to fill the gallery in her mind. She is very [[Serial Killer|prolific]].

* [[Manipulative Bastard]]: Odile Jones from ''SOTF-TV'' takes the cake.

* [[Male Gaze]]: In ''SOTF-TV'', Zach Johnson to Mae's butt and Bobby Goldman to Amber's breasts.

{{quote|'''Conclusion''': So the drug addict now secretes a hallucinogen. Hm.}}

* [[Playing with Syringes]]: What The Organisation does in ''Evolution'' to induce the superpowers in the students. The [[Super Serum]] is a success, although the powers created have varying values of 'super'.

* [[Rape by Proxy]]: [[Attempted Rape|Attempted]] ([[Squick|thank god]]) in a notable scene in ''SOTF-TV''. There's a scene where Sterling Odair and Amber Lyons start to "get intimate", only for [[Moment Killer|their mentor to interrupt humorously]]. It results in [[Mood Whiplash]] when Lou Becker, having seen everything, breaks in and tries to force them to continue. {{spoiler|Only to get a hatchet to the face as a result.}}

* [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]]: As of the first announcement, Katie Tanaka has been planning this in regards to Simon Mattheson, and implicitly other major players.

* [[Romantic Two-Girl Friendship]]: ''Evolution's'' Kate Black and Taryn Gregory, to a tee.

* [[Sassy Black Woman]]: Ramona Shirley in ''Virtua''.

* [[Scholarship Student]]: Mikaela Warner in ''SOTF-TV''.

* [[Sorry, Billy, But You Just Don't Have Legs]] / [[I Coulda Been a Contender]]: ''Virtua'' character Clarisse Huntingdon was gearing up to become a model in her backstory. However, in the same car accident that killed her friends she broke her nose, rendering her incapable of modelling.

* [[The Speechless]]: Simon Mattheson in ''Virtua''. He has a severe social phobia, rendering him incapable of speech {{spoiler|until he bludgeons another character to death}}.

* [[Stout Strength]]: The same winner as in ''SOTF-TV'''s [[Made of Iron]] example was a very large man, a bit on the pudgy side but still very strong and a highly skilled wrestler. He ended up losing a good bit of the extra weight during his recovery.

** [[Kevlard]]: the official explanation why he was [[Made of Iron]].

* [[Unusual Euphemism]]: [[Ax Crazy|Harold Finston Smythe]] in ''SOTF-TV'' tends to describe the act of killing someone as [[Deadly Euphemism|"saving"]] them. Similarly, in Virtua [[Genki Girl|Katie Tanaka]] quickly developed the habit of calling players "bandits".

* [[Useless Superpowers]]: Most of the Evo powers.

* [[Wild West]]: The setting for Virtua.

* [[You Can't Fight Fate]]: In ''The Program'', Durriken Lovel, as the youngest child of a Gypsy family is [[Gypsy Curse|cursed]] to have terrible luck. Of course, he's put in the Program.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Forum Roleplays]]

[[Category:Play-By-Post Games]]