Tropedia

  • Before making a single edit, Tropedia EXPECTS our site policy and manual of style to be followed. Failure to do so may result in deletion of contributions and blocks of users who refuse to learn to do so. Our policies can be reviewed here.
  • All images MUST now have proper attribution, those who neglect to assign at least the "fair use" licensing to an image may have it deleted. All new pages should use the preloadable templates feature on the edit page to add the appropriate basic page markup. Pages that don't do this will be subject to deletion, with or without explanation.
  • All new trope pages will be made with the "Trope Workshop" found on the "Troper Tools" menu and worked on until they have at least three examples. The Trope workshop specific templates can then be removed and it will be regarded as a regular trope page after being moved to the Main namespace. THIS SHOULD BE WORKING NOW, REPORT ANY ISSUES TO Janna2000, SelfCloak or RRabbit42. DON'T MAKE PAGES MANUALLY UNLESS A TEMPLATE IS BROKEN, AND REPORT IT THAT IS THE CASE. PAGES WILL BE DELETED OTHERWISE IF THEY ARE MISSING BASIC MARKUP.

READ MORE

Tropedia
Register
Advertisement
WikEd fancyquotesQuotesBug-silkHeadscratchersIcons-mini-icon extensionPlaying WithUseful NotesMagnifierAnalysisPhoto linkImage LinksHaiku-wide-iconHaikuLaconic
File:Adequate 1345.png
Cquote1
"For many moviegoers, simply being an okay movie is the biggest letdown."
Cquote2


This is about works that, for the most part, never cross the line to bad or good. They just stay roughly in the middle, in the opinion of the viewer. These are the works we often refer to as "decent", "okay", "meh", and "mediocre".

Now this doesn't seem important, but some works can still do well even when the audience thinks this about a work. It's a form of comfort food, and often easier to pull off than trying to get the audience to think a work is awesome (which has a higher risk of being horrible if done wrong).

Why do viewers feel this way? Well it depends. Usually it's a Strictly Formula work that is competent, but little else. Often it's a work that is technically and artistically competent, but otherwise uninspired (this can also apply to works that have high production values, but just don't add up to a satisfying whole package). Once in a while, it's a work that strives for greatness, but the result or idea is too weak to get there.

Reactions can vary, depending on expectations. Those expecting something great can often feel just as cheated as if the work was outright bad. This is largely the reason for the Four Point Scale. On the other hand, if you aren't expecting much, it's a nice way to kill time, and that's all you are looking for. On yet another hand there's what Joe Queenan described as Scheissbedauer ("shit regret") which is when you were hoping for something that would monumentally SUCK, but it just turns out...meh.

Works generally considered to be average can still have large Fandoms and Hatedoms, but don't expect the works to be outright polarizing. That is Love It or Hate It.

Compare Capcom Sequel Stagnation (which often leads to this).

Contrast So Cool It's Awesome, So Bad It's Good, Cult Classic, Love It or Hate It, and So Bad It's Horrible. Works that fit into those would not fit here.


No examples, please. This is mostly a personal reaction anyway and shouldn't be put in main.

Advertisement