History Main / DeadUnicornTrope

* The idea of Characters/{{Batman|TheCharacter}} being a grim, brooding, CrazyPrepared semi-madman is more complicated than you would think. Batman became popular during UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks, when he was more or less a straight-laced InvincibleHero, and later from the [[Series/Batman1966 1966 TV series]] and the 1970s ''WesternAnimation/{{Superfriends}}'', which were unbelievably {{Camp}}y and where he was the furthest thing from gritty and brooding. He ''was'' a grim brooding anti-hero in the early 1940s, but this was also before his ThouShaltNotKill phase and can be chalked up to EarlyInstallmentWeirdness. The idea that the modern gritty Batman is a "return to classic Batman" is thus a misnomer, as this version of the character only really came out in UsefulNotes/{{the Bronze Age|OfComicBooks}} and works like ''ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'' and Creator/TimBurton's [[Film/Batman1989 1989 film]].

** Interestingly enough, it was actually ''Marvel's'' early [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] comics that had a more pronounced conservative bent (though at the time, they were being praised for portraying flaws on both sides of the spectrum). The '50s "Commie-Smasher" ComicBook/CaptainAmerica is probably the most infamous of the bunch -- enough that the celebrated Steve Englehart run retconned him into an impostor after years of that era being awkward non-canon weirdness that couldn't be addressed without violating UsefulNotes/TheComicsCode -- but a lot of early ComicBook/FantasticFour, ComicBook/IronMan, and [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] stories had the heroes gallivanting around third-world countries fighting DirtyCommunists. Even so, the Marvel Universe of the early 1960s wasn't particularly conservative or jingoistic outside of this anti-comunism. Stan Lee was quite the liberal in other respects, and 1960s Marvel already had VerySpecialEpisode stories condemning racism. Also Marvel superheroes generally also were too individualistic and impulsive to ever fit comfortably in the mold of Establishment stooges.

* Indie [=RPG=]s, especially those made with the UsefulNotes/RPGMaker or Game Maker engines, are frequently stereotyped as quirky ''VideoGame/{{Mother}}''-inspired games with heavy ArtStyleDissonance, typically about heavier topics like depression. This is often a conflation with well-known freeware horror [=RPGs=] that have offbeat presentation and gameplay (such as ''VideoGame/YumeNikki'' or ''VideoGame/TheWitchsHouse''), games with unconventional character design that deal with dark topics in general (like ''VideoGame/{{Lisa}}'' or ''VideoGame/{{OFF}}''), and games that really are ''Mother''- inspired and have a primarily lighthearted tone (such as ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}''). The only mainstream game that appears to meet all these criteria is ''VideoGame/{{Omori}}'', which the developers admit had elements influenced by some of these games.

** RageAgainstTheHeavens commonly features in {{Stock Parod|y}}ies of ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'', but the franchise's use of it and [[CorruptChurch related tropes]] in mainline entries is NewerThanTheyThink, originating in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX''. The villains of earlier entries were more likely to be [[AGodAmI humans with delusions of godhood]] or {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, though Kefka in ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI VI]]'' and Sephiroth in ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII VII]]'' did muddy the waters a fair bit by making use of LightIsNotGood angelic imagery. Religious factions rarely played a large role (to the point where early localizations could {{Bowdlerise}} them without impacting the plot) and were typically heroic. One of the few to play GodIsEvil entirely straight is ''VideoGame/LightningReturnsFinalFantasyXIII'', which came out in late 2013. Before that, use of the tropes was limited to spin-offs like ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'', which still isn't quite accurate either [[note]]the antagonists happen to be a host of demons led by a fallen angel[[/note]], which are outside the scope of typical parodies[[note]]Also, ''VideoGame/TheFinalFantasyLegend'' used it, but that's a DolledUpInstallment taken from the ''VideoGame/SaGa'' franchise.[[/note]] . This can be chalked up to SmallReferencePools: God is often fought in EasternRPG[=s=] (for example, ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei''), and ''Final Fantasy'' is the one most outside Japan know about.That being said, this perception did become more accurate after ''X'': ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'' has you fight the God of Darkness Promathia in the ''Chains of Promathia'' expansion; ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' has Venat, a fallen [[OurGodsAreDifferent Occuria]] (with the twist that [[spoiler:Venat is actually an AntiVillain [[WellIntentionedExtremist that orchestrated a war for the express purpose of freeing humanity from the machinations of its brethren]], something that it [[TheBadGuyWins succeeds in]] by the end of the game]]); and the ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' trilogy has multiple examples of divine antagonists, which is balanced out slightly by Etro being not only the setting's "Goddess of Death" [[DarkIsNotEvil but]] the creator of the human race and BigGood of the trilogy as a whole (though she's a little... [[GodIsInept bad]] at her job).

* FlatWorld has, at least since the 19th century, been a stock trope to describe MedievalMorons' ignorance of science. In RealLife, Europeans have known the Earth was round -- and been able to measure its circumference to a surprising degree of accuracy -- since at least Ancient Greece, when the Earth's dimensions were calculated by the Greek astronomer Eratosthenes. This knowledge was never lost or supressed after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. If you want primary sources, Dante's ''Purgatorio'' explicitly locates the island of Purgatory in the Southern hemisphere, and he opens several cantos of the poem by mentioning the position of the sun at various points on the globe (usually Purgatory itself, Rome, and the Ganges River.) Oh, and there's the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globus_cruciger Globus Cruciger]][[note]]Why yes, that is where the Holy Hand Grenade comes from.[[/note]] which was a Medieval symbol of divine and secular authority depicting a cross surmounting a decidedly round Earth. To the extent that anyone in the old days ''did'' believe the Earth was flat after the classical era reached its peak, this was more a [[ScienceIsBad rejection of science]] than ignorance of it, akin to modern-day believers in a flat Earth. Other parts of the world like China ''did'' genuinely believe the Earth to be flat until far, far later (and were only dissuaded of that notion by European visitors), but this misconception is almost always applied to medieval Europe. Of course, there's still the literacy bias: all the written sources come from the academic and upper classes, so it inevitably clouds our perception of what "everybody" thought. It's not improbable that the common European believed all sorts of nonsense like werewolves and flat earths.

* FoodPills are often mocked as {{Zeerust}}, except they were never really taken seriously to begin with. The trope's UrExample appears to be from the ''Literature/LandOfOz'' series, where they're more akin to inedible military rations than actual meals; its first sci-fi use is probably the 1930 sci-fi musical ''Film/JustImagine'', which plays the trope straight but derives humor from the HumanPopsicle protagonist having to get used to eating them. This shows that while food pills might have once been thought to be ''useful'',[[note]]As the page on food pills itself explains, the human body simply requires more daily dietary sustenance than is ''able'' to be squeezed into a single pill[[/note]] nobody ever thought they would be as ''enjoyable'' as eating a real meal.

* UnbuiltTrope: where a TropeMaker or UrExample play with said trope(s) before later works play them straight.

* ManicPixieDreamGirl: This is an odd one, because the core details of the trope -- a quirky female with no independent goals of her own except to liven up the life of a brooding male -- rarely appear completely straight. The only three famous examples would be ''Film/BringingUpBaby'' and, several decades later, ''{{Film/Elizabethtown}}'' and ''Film/GardenState''. And the very next year, the trope was being deconstructed in ''Film/EternalSunshineOfTheSpotlessMind''. Actresses Zooey Deschanel, Audrey Tautou and Amy Adams are often associated with this typecasting in the 2000s, but their most famous Manic Pixie roles in fact play with the trope; the latter two have ''{{Film/Amelie}}'' and ''{{Film/Enchanted}}'' but both Amelie and Giselle are the protagonists, thereby immediately disqualifying them from being true Manic Pixies, while the former has ''Film/FiveHundredDaysOfSummer'' as an outright deconstruction. Subversions, deconstructions and reconstructions far outnumber the straight examples. Nathan Rabin, who coined the term in reference to ''Elizabethtown'', later disowned it over blatant misuse; he intended to raise awareness for lack of independent goals in female characters, not demonize any quirky ones.

** The parodists love to make ComicBook/LoisLane out to be the dumb girlfriend who can't tell that Clark Kent and Superman are the same person and is easily fooled by a pair of glasses. (This even made it into actual Superman media: on ''Series/LoisAndClark'', time-traveler Tempus told Lois the question everyone in the future asked about her was "How ''dumb'' is she?") In the comics, Superman used ClarkKenting to extreme effect to maintain his disguise, and Lois is usually the first to figure out that Clark Kent is Superman (or at least is more certain of it than anyone else), forcing Superman to go to greater lengths to throw her off the scent. After the 1990s, most continuities have her completely in the know.
* The idea of Franchise/{{Batman}} being a grim, brooding, CrazyPrepared semi-madman is more complicated than you would think. Batman became popular during UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks, when he was more or less a straight-laced InvincibleHero, and later from the [[Series/Batman1966 1966 TV series]] and the 1970s ''WesternAnimation/{{Superfriends}}'', which were unbelievably {{Camp}}y and where he was the furthest thing from gritty and brooding. He ''was'' a grim brooding anti-hero in the early 1940s, but this was also before his ThouShaltNotKill phase and can be chalked up to EarlyInstallmentWeirdness. The idea that the modern gritty Batman is a "return to classic Batman" is thus a misnomer, as this version of the character only really came out in UsefulNotes/{{the Bronze Age|OfComicBooks}} and works like ''ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'' and Creator/TimBurton's [[Film/Batman1989 1989 film]].

** A pretty common element of said parodies is also the idea of said heroes being TheFundamentalist, or overtly religious in some other sense, such as the Jesus Society of America from ''Marshal Law'', Oh Father from ''ComicBook/TheBoys'', or most supes from the latter's otherwise much more nuanced [[Series/TheBoys2019 TV adaptation]]. For the most part, though, even when comics were at their most conservative, superheroes tend to only acknowledge Christianity in extremely minor ways: they'd celebrate Christmas or say "oh, lord," and that was about it. If a character's faith is a significant part of their identity, it's much more common for them to be Jewish (ComicBook/{{Ragman}}, ComicBook/KittyPryde), atheistic (ComicBook/MisterTerrific, ComicBook/{{Quasar}}), pagan (ComicBook/TheMightyThor, ComicBook/WonderWoman), related to esoterism (ComicBook/TheInvisibles, ComicBook/{{Promethea}}) or even follow a fictional religion (ComicBook/{{Superman}}). The rare characters who ''are'' explicitly Christian almost never fit the Bible-thumping God-is-good equality-is-Satanic mold, and in fact would likely consider that type of Christian to be heretical; characters who are simply religious (ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}, ComicBook/{{Nightcrawler}}) tend to be moderate and tolerant, while characters actively empowered by Christian cosmology (ComicBook/TheSpectre) tend to take a critical view of it. Major characters who ''do'' fit this archetype tend to be '''villains''', such as the Purifiers in ''X-Men''. In short, this sort of Christian was ''never'' portrayed positively in mainstream superhero comics, not even in a subtle, dog-whistle kind of way--there do exist uncritically fundamentalist superheroes, but most of them are found in [[TheMoralSubstitute relatively obscure media made by Christians, for Christians]], such as ''Series/{{Bibleman}}''.
*** Interestingly, Christian characters like the aformentioned Daredevil, Nightcrawler or Starlight will be more likely to have their inclusive and healthy faith be questioned by a PoliticallyIncorrectVillain religious extremist. Hell, DD and Kurt's Devil iconography/appearance is more central to the character than their faith.

* When a story needs a parodic name for a hypothetical superhero, it'll more often than not be in the pattern <adjective> <verb>er, with the adjective and verb part alliterating. E.g. Avid Avenger, Purple Pugilist, etc. Just about the only well-known real superheroes whose name actually follows this formula are ComicBook/MartianManhunter and ComicBook/SilverSurfer. However, other Superheroes may have nicknames in this style (e.g. ComicBook/{{Superman}} being nicknamed Big Blue (or the Big Blue Boy Scout), ComicBook/{{Batman}} being nicknamed the Caped Crusader, ComicBook/IronMan being nicknamed the Armored Avenger, ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk being nicknamed the Green Goliath), making this misconception understandable. See SuperheroSobriquets for more details.

* The school of thought that the woman wrestler of the past was a scary BrawnHilda and that the women in the sport became ProgressivelyPrettier is actually quite false. In fact the documentary ''Lipstick & Dynamite'' shows what women wrestlers were really like; they had to be dolled up to the nines when entering and leaving the arenas, and wrestlers like Mae Young and Penny Banner modelled their looks off various starlets of the time. There was always a mix of glamorous women wrestlers in with the BrawnHilda performers. In Wrestling/{{WWE}} they started bringing in models to specifically be MsFanservice, but the earliest that happened was in the 1990s.

* ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}}'' is often viewed as an overtly political work created by the Soviet Union to spread their culture and ideology to the first world. Truth is, the Russian and Soviet music and imagery were not in the original, but added by American and Japanese developers for marketing and style ''after'' they got the license -- the original game was just a TechDemoGame to test out the Platform/Elektronika60 hardware. It had no music or advanced graphics, let alone any Soviet politics or propaganda -- [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omXjhq7DqQY&t see it originally played here.]] [[labelnote: '''WARNING''']]Contains loud beeps. Turn your sound down, especially if you are using headphones![[/labelnote]] In fact, some of the added imagery was misaimed -- once ELORG was made aware of these (such as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathias_Rust Mathias Rust landing in the Red Square,]] after breaching nearly all of Soviet air defense) they were ''mad'' as some of those images like the stunt were major embarrassments at the time.

* "Humanity, fuck yeah!" stories are usually claimed to be a subversion of humanity [[PunyEarthlings being a weak and dull species]] in sci-fi by depicting humanity as a highly dominant and feared power in a SpaceOpera setting. However, while HumansAreAverage is indeed a trope, it's a trope far more associated with fantasy than sci-fi (and even then, it's less "humans are boring" and more "humans are the baseline and everyone else has tradeoffs", with humanity almost always being the most widespread and common sapients). While there are stories out there where a sapient alien species is shown to be far superior to humanity in technology and/or morality, this is mostly confined to stories like ''Film/TheDayTheEarthStoodStill1951'' where humanity's technology is only modern. In a StandardSciFiSetting, it's far more common for humanity to be at worst a peer power to other alien races, and more often a superpower, usually only being truly outclassed by SufficientlyAdvancedAliens or by an antagonistic threat that our human protagonists ultimately overcome. HumanityIsSuperior and HumansAreWarriors are ''far'' more common in these settings--Creator/JohnWCampbell famously turned down any story that didn't play the former straight.

* Two classic gags from UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation -- the AnvilOnHead and the DynamiteCandle -- were never really used in animation of that era. Sure, violence and gag props were common in those cartoons, and you did see anvils and dynamite on occasion in Creator/TexAvery's works at [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Warner Bros.]] and [[WesternAnimation/TexAveryMGMCartoons MGM]], as well in works [[FollowTheLeader that were inspired by him]] like ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'', but those specific tropes didn't become ubiquitous until the 1950s, when they were used in ''WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadRunner'' cartoons, which were specifically intended as [[ParodyDisplacement an over-the-top parody]] of such cartoons. Most subsequent parodies and homages (''e.g.'' ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'', ''JustForFun/TheItchyAndScratchyShow'') use those tropes almost exclusively. The book ''Literature/AmericanCornball'' has a section discussing this subject.

* Many parodies of WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadrunner portray the Coyote's failures as due to ComplexityAddiction. In the actual cartoon, the vast majority of his plans to catch the Roadrunner were pretty straightforward, and his failures were generally just due to being BornUnlucky.

** A Japan-exclusive example exists in other forms of media that parody EasternRPG[=s=]. MaouTheDemonKing is treated as a stock archetype, but few actually incorporate such a character and those that do rarely play it straight. As a whole they're more likely to have you fight [[RageAgainstTheHeavens the man upstairs]]. The stereotype is presumably drawn from the ''Franchise/DragonQuest'' series in a case of SmallReferencePools that Westerners don't get because the series isn't anywhere near as popular abroad.
** RageAgainstTheHeavens commonly features in {{Stock Parod|y}}ies of ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'', but the franchise's use of it and [[CorruptChurch related tropes]] in mainline entries is NewerThanTheyThink, originating in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX''. The villains of earlier entries were more likely to be [[AGodAmI humans with delusions of godhood]] or {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, though Kefka in ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI VI]]'' and Sephiroth in ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII VII]]'' did muddy the waters a fair bit by making use of LightIsNotGood angelic imagery. Religious factions rarely played a large role (to the point where early localizations could {{Bowdlerise}} them without impacting the plot) and were typically heroic. One of the few to play GodIsEvil entirely straight is ''VideoGame/LightningReturnsFinalFantasyXIII'', which came out in late 2013. Before that, use of the tropes was limited to spin-offs like ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'', which still isn't quite accurate either [[note]]the antagonists happen to be a host of demons led by a fallen angel[[/note]], which are outside the scope of typical parodies. This can be chalked up to SmallReferencePools: God is often fought in EasternRPG[=s=] (for example, ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei''), and ''Final Fantasy'' is the one most outside Japan know about. That being said, this perception did become more accurate after ''X'': ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'' has you fight the God of Darkness Promathia in the ''Chains of Promathia'' expansion; ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' has Venat, a fallen [[OurGodsAreDifferent Occuria]] (with the twist that [[spoiler:Venat is actually an AntiVillain [[WellIntentionedExtremist that orchestrated a war for the express purpose of freeing humanity from the machinations of its brethren]], something that it [[TheBadGuyWins succeeds in]] by the end of the game]]); and the ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' trilogy has multiple examples of divine antagonists, which is balanced out slightly by Etro being not only the setting's "Goddess of Death" [[DarkIsNotEvil but]] the creator of the human race and BigGood of the trilogy as a whole (though she's a little... [[GodIsInept bad]] at her job).

* RebornAsVillainessStory: Easily the most common model for female-oriented [[TrappedInAnotherWorld Isekai]] stories, they feature the lead being reincarnated into the body of the "villainess" (read: {{Ojou}} love rival) character in an [[RomanceGame otome game]], and usually takes place in an upper class society on the cusp of war where the villainess is set to marry the game's primary love interest. However, this kind of plotline does not commonly exist in real life otome games. Even considering the ''VideoGame/{{Angelique|KoeiTecmo}}'' series, most otome games do not match the description of the typical otome game seen in "otome isekai" stories, usually either using a comparatively modern setting or being about something else entirely, even in a medieval fantasy setting. The idea of love rivals and other important girls in otome, while not totally fictitious, mostly gives way to [[BefriendingTheEnemy "friendship routes"]] and occasionally a GayOption; and as for antagonistic female characters, the ones that feature are usually pure villains. There ''are'' some prominent love rival characters in female-oriented works, but more often than not they're featured in [[ShoujoDemographic shoujo romance manga]] rather than in dating sims. And even then, that trope had [[AnimeAndMangaOfThe1990s hit its peak in the '90s]] and [[AnimeAndMangaOfThe2000s early 2000s]]. It is even lampshaded in one such story, ''The Old Man Reincarnated as a Villainess'', where the protagonist mentions prominent rival characters similar to the villainess of the story -- but they are all from classic shojo manga, not otome games. The "otome isekai" genre as a whole may have taken inspiration from the web novel ''My Motto is Living Honestly and Humbly'', where the main character was reborn as the love rival. However, the [[TrappedinAnotherWorld isekai world]] was a [[ShoujoDemographic shoujo romance manga]]. Later stories added game mechanics from otome games such as event flags, branching paths, and multiple love interests (to develop [[HaremGenre reverse harems]]), but kept the typical shoujo manga elements such as the villainess character.

* RebornAsVillainessStory: Easily the most common model for female-oriented [[TrappedInAnotherWorld Isekai]] stories, they feature the lead being reincarnated into the body of the "villainess" (read: {{Ojou}} love rival) character in an [[RomanceGame otome game]], and usually takes place in an upper class society on the cusp of war where the villainess is set to marry the game's primary love interest. However, this kind of plotline does not commonly exist in real life otome games. Even considering the ''VideoGame/{{Angelique|KoeiTecmo}}'' series, most otome games do not match the description of the typical otome game seen in "otome isekai" stories, usually either using a comparatively modern setting or being about something else entirely, even in a medieval fantasy setting. The idea of love rivals and other important girls in otome, while not totally fictitious, mostly gives way to [[BefriendingTheEnemy "friendship routes"]] and occasionally a GayOption; and as for antagonistic female characters, the ones that feature are usually pure villains. There ''are'' some prominent love rival characters in female-oriented works, but more often than not they're featured in [[ShoujoDemographic shoujo romance manga]] rather than in dating sims. And even then, that trope had [[AnimeAndMangaOfThe1990s hit its peak in the '90s]] and [[AnimeAndMangaOfThe2000s early 2000s]]. It is even lampshaded in one such story, ''The Old Man Reincarnated as a Villainess'', where the protagonist mentions prominent rival characters similar to the villainess of the story -- but they are all from classic shojo manga, not otome games.
** The "otome isekai" genre as a whole may have taken inspiration from the web novel ''My Motto is Living Honestly and Humbly'', where the main character was reborn as the love rival. However, the [[TrappedinAnotherWorld isekai world]] was a [[ShoujoDemographic shoujo romance manga]]. Later stories added game mechanics from otome games such as event flags, branching paths, and multiple love interests (to develop [[HaremGenre reverse harems]]), but kept the typical shoujo manga elements such as the villainess character.

** Interestingly enough, it was actually ''Marvel's'' early [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] comics that had a more pronounced conservative bent (though at the time, they were being praised for portraying flaws on both sides of the spectrum). The '50s "Commie-Smasher" ComicBook/CaptainAmerica is probably the most infamous of the bunch -- enough that the celebrated Steve Englehart run retconned him into an impostor after years of that era being awkward non-canon weirdness that couldn't be addressed without violating UsefulNotes/TheComicsCode -- but a lot of early ComicBook/FantasticFour, ComicBook/IronMan, and [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] stories had the heroes gallivanting around third-world countries fighting DirtyCommunists. Even so, the Marvel Universe of the early 1960s wasn't particularly conservative or jingoistic outside of this anti-comunism. Stan Lee was an early believer in anti-racism, for instance. And Marvel superheroes also were generally too individualistic and impulsive to fit comfortably in the mold of Establishment stooges.

** Interestingly enough, it was actually ''Marvel's'' early [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] comics that had a more pronounced conservative bent (though at the time, they were being praised for portraying flaws on both sides of the spectrum). The '50s "Commie-Smasher" ComicBook/CaptainAmerica is probably the most infamous of the bunch -- enough that the celebrated Steve Englehart run retconned him into an impostor after years of that era being awkward non-canon weirdness that couldn't be addressed without violating UsefulNotes/TheComicsCode -- but a lot of early ComicBook/FantasticFour, ComicBook/IronMan, and [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] stories had the heroes gallivanting around third-world countries fighting DirtyCommunists.

* StandardFemaleGrabArea: Any incident in which "the badass woman is instantly made into a captive when grabbed by the wrist" only happens in parody. Most that are genuinely taken out when grabbed by the wrist are either already beaten, or threatened (e.g. a knife to the throat as well), or are grabbed by someone ''far'' [[TheWorfEffect stronger then they]], or were never action girls in the first place. Note that the page is ''loaded'' with subversions, justifications, and parodies.

* Gender-inverted versions of ParentingTheHusband and BumblingDad. When these tropes became popular in family sitcoms of the '80s and '90s, many viewers assumed that they were intended to [[InvertedTrope invert]] portrayals of American families from past eras, leading to a common misconception that family sitcoms of the 1950s often depicted wives/mothers as childish, incompetent, and idiotic. In reality, [[StandardFiftiesFather while fathers in family sitcoms of the 1950s were almost always portrayed as intelligent and upstanding]], such shows usually portrayed the mother as ''equally'' intelligent and upstanding, often depicting her as TheHeart of the cast. This misconception might stem from the popularity of ''Series/ILoveLucy'' (one of the few sitcoms from the 1950s that many people know), where Lucy Ricardo actually ''was'' usually portrayed as a clumsy and childish ditz. It's easy to forget that ''I Love Lucy'' was a novelty in its day, and much of its popularity was due to its ''uniqueness''; Lucy Ricardo's portrayal differed strongly from most other television leading ladies of the era, which is why she stood out.

* SynchroVox was only ever used seriously in a few animated series during TheFifties and [[TheSixties '60s]], notably ''WesternAnimation/ClutchCargo'' and ''Space Angel''. It was immediately {{discredited|Trope}} as [[ExaggeratedTrope an extreme form]] of LimitedAnimation, and was used only for comedic effect afterward.

** All country songs are about dogs or trucks, or [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs dogs in trucks]]. That's why many parodies of country music say it's not a country song without a truck or a dog (e.g. Music/DavidAllanCoe's "You Never Even Called Me by My Name" or British musical comedian Creator/JasperCarrott's routine). Except there are hardly any country songs that are ''actually'' about dogs or trucks; only a few mention them in passing at all, and pickup trucks were equally rare until the proliferation of "bro-country" in TheNewTens -- whose sound hardly has anything to do with country in the first place. (However, the stereotypes of country songs frequently being about booze or adultery are entirely accurate, the latter to the point where there are even country songs ''[[LampshadeHanging about]]'' the abundance of adultery-themed country songs.)

* Similar to UltraSuperDeathGoreFestChainsawer3000, the whole idea of {{Tabletop RPG}}s promoting Satanism (with ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' being most frequently accused of this, if only because it was the most well known) was all part of the whole "Satanic panic" of TheEighties. While demons and the like do exist in the game, they are explicitly labelled as being evil, and mainly serve as enemies for the players to kill, not worship. Gygax was a devout Christian,[[note]] More accurately he was a Jehovah's Witness at the time he created the game, left for unrelated reasons, and became a Mainline Protestant later in life.[[/note]] and it's quite visible in early editions: one of the first gods created in the setting was Saint Cuthbert, who is not only Lawful Good, but is explicitly based on [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuthbert a real-life Scottish saint]] (and they're even [[BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy implied to be the same person]]). The closest thing to a straight example of this is ''TabletopGame/EmpireOfSatanis'', which wasn't invented until 2003 and which the creator eventually revealed was meant more as a joke/troll game, mixed in a lot of UsefulNotes/{{Objectivism}} and the Franchise/CthulhuMythos and was universally panned. Even in spite of all this, some fringe [[TheFundamentalist fundies]] still cling to this mindset, acting like a game being ''about'' the occult is the same as the game ''itself'' being occult,[[note]]Which actually isn't even an accurate description of D&D, which is a FantasyKitchenSink setting[[/note]] which is like thinking that watching a movie ''about'' gun violence will give you lead poisoning.

* ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}}'' is often viewed as an overtly political work created by the Soviet Union to spread their culture and ideology to the first world. Truth is, the Russian and Soviet music and imagery were not in the original, but added by American and Japanese developers for marketing and style ''after'' they got the license -- the original game was just a TechDemoGame to test out the UsefulNotes/Elektronika60 hardware. It had no music or advanced graphics, let alone any Soviet politics or propaganda -- [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omXjhq7DqQY&t see it originally played here.]] [[labelnote: '''WARNING''']]Contains loud beeps. Turn your sound down, especially if you are using headphones![[/labelnote]] In fact, some of the added imagery was misaimed -- once ELORG was made aware of these (such as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathias_Rust Mathias Rust landing in the Red Square,]] after breaching nearly all of Soviet air defense) they were ''mad'' as some of those images like the stunt were major embarrassments at the time.

** Some hold the stereotype that all EasternRPG[=s=] have very generic anime art-styles and feature excessive amounts of fanservice, often with a dose of WorldOfBuxom and the main character (often [[SilentProtagonist Silent]]) getting a BattleHarem of some kind; all of which is used to criticise the genre. It also turns up as a standard setting in trashy {{Isekai}}. The only mainstream works that follow this stereotype are ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII'' (where the hero can potentially recruit three {{stripperiffic}} women, and the Sacred Bikini is the game's best armor) and ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'' (where 90% of recruitable [[{{Mon}} Blades]] are buxom women in {{Stripperific}} outfits). Only ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX2'' on the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' side comes close, but there are no playable male characters, and the costumes vary based on the characters' jobs. The games that do follow the stereotype are generally niche {{Ecchi}} games that most JRPG fans haven't even heard of, let alone the general public. Additionally, most RPG parties are either [[TheSmurfettePrinciple predominantly men]] or gender-equal with, maybe ''one'' female party member that fits the sexy stereotype.
** A Japan-exclusive example exists in other forms of media that parody EasternRPG[=s=]. MaouTheDemonKing is treated as a stock archetype, but few actually incorporate such a character and those that do rarely play it straight. As a whole they're more likely to have you fight [[RageAgainstTheHeavens the man upstairs]]. The stereotype is presumably drawn from the ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' series in a case of SmallReferencePools that Westerners don't get because the series isn't anywhere near as popular abroad.
** RageAgainstTheHeavens commonly features in StockParody of ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'', but the franchise's use of it and [[CorruptChurch related tropes]] in mainline entries is NewerThanTheyThink, originating in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX''. The villains of earlier entries were more likely to be [[AGodAmI humans with delusions of godhood]] or {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, though Kefka in ''VI'' and Sephiroth in ''VII'' did muddy the waters a fair bit by making use of LightIsNotGood angelic imagery. Religious factions rarely played a large role (to the point where early localizations could {{Bowdlerise}} them without impacting the plot) and were typically heroic. One of the few to play GodIsEvil entirely straight is ''VideoGame/LightningReturnsFinalFantasyXIII'', which came out in late 2013. Before that, use of the tropes was limited to spinoffs like ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'', which still isn't quite accurate either [[note]]the antagonists happen to be a host of demons led by a fallen angel[[/note]], which are outside the scope of typical parodies. This can be chalked up to SmallReferencePools: God is often fought in EasternRPG[=s=], and ''Final Fantasy'' is the one most outside Japan know about. That being said, after X this trope is beginning to become more and more accurate: ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'' has you fight the God of Darkness Promathia in the Chains of Promathia expansion, ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' has Venat, a fallen [[OurGodsAreDifferent Occuria]], the 'VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' trilogy has multiple examples of divine antagonists.
* Detractors of modern military shooters (and parodies of it) often paint them as jingoistic, racist, pro-war power fantasies where you shoot lots of Middle Easterners without any repercussions and make blatant use of AmericaSavesTheDay. Common targets of mockery include ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' (specifically the ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare'' sub-series) and ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield}}'' (specifically the ''[[VideoGame/BattlefieldBadCompany Bad Company]]'' spin-offs and the [[VideoGame/Battlefield3 3rd]] and [[VideoGame/Battlefield4 4th]] main installments) which are the two biggest names in military shooters. However, it's worth noting that none (except ''VideoGame/{{Medal of Honor|2010}}'' of 2010 and ''Medal of Honor: Warfighter'' of 2012, both of which ended up being critical and commerical failures) of their games set in modern times actually fit the stereotypical definition of what a modern military shooter "should" be. The ''Modern Warfare'' games were more of an UnbuiltTrope where the actions of the US military make problems worse, it's ''British'' soldiers who save the day, and you fight Russians most of the time (none of the listed games have you fighting Middle Eastern insurgents for any longer than, at most, a quarter of the game -- in fact, of all of them, only ''[=CoD4=]'' even has them past a ''single'' level). ''Battlefield: Bad Company'' was more of a parody than a straight example, and ''Battlefield 3'' turns the logic of "America saves the day" on its head -- due to working under that logic, the CIA [[TheCassandra ignores everything the protagonist tells them]] about a plot to detonate a nuke in New York City, except for the parts which they can misconstrue as "proof" that the Russians are the real bad guys, because the BigBad turns out to be a CIA mole.

** It's been ingrained in the public consciousness that Pokémon trainers traditionally start their journey at 10 years old. Though the anime notes that 10 years old is the ''minimum'' age of an officially registered Trainer, the only actual ''Pokémon'' protagonist who is canonically 10 years old is Ash Ketchum from [[Anime/PokemonTheSeries the anime]]. Most others have a VagueAge, and many are implied to be teenagers. The closest are the protagonists of ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'' and ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'', both of whom are 11 years old. This hasn't stopped most parodies and FanFics from making their protagonists 10 years old. Downplayed as, while the ''protagonists'' aren't always that young, it is established in ''Sun and Moon'' that 11 is around the age most children start their journeys, meaning that the fanon is only a year off.
** Every trainer seems to get their starter Pokémon handed to them by a Pokémon professor. While the player character gets their first Pokémon this way in most mainline games (as does Ash in the anime), this is generally a unique situation, as the professor lives nearby and (in the Kanto, Johto, and Unova games) are a family friend. Meanwhile, the Hoenn and Sinnoh games have you borrow and ''steal'' a Pokémon from the local professor, respectively, with them letting you keep it. This special situation is also highlighted by you receiving a Pokédex, a piece of tech that is explicitly stated as being something most trainers don't have; you're getting one to help said professor with their research. Various [=NPCs=] state that their first Pokémon was either self-caught in the local area, or a gift from a family member or an established trainer: the Hoenn games show a local Gym leader (your dad, in this case), loaning out his Pokémon to help a local boy to catch his first, while the player character gets their starter Pokémon from an established trainer in the Alola, Galar, and Paldea games.

* ''{{VideoGame/Tetris}}'' is often viewed as an overtly political work created by the Soviet Union to spread their culture and ideology to the first world. Truth is, the Russian and Soviet music and imagery were not in the original, but added by American and Japanese developers for marketing and style ''after'' they got the license -- the original game was just a TechDemoGame to test out the UsefulNotes/Elektronika60 hardware. It had no music or advanced graphics, let alone any Soviet politics or propaganda -- [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omXjhq7DqQY&t see it originally played here.]] [[labelnote: '''WARNING''']]Contains loud beeps. Turn your sound down, especially if you are using headphones![[/labelnote]] In fact, some of the added imagery was misaimed -- once ELORG was made aware of these (such as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathias_Rust Mathias Rust landing in the Red Square,]] after breaching nearly all of Soviet air defense) they were ''mad'' as some of those images like the stunt were major embarrassments at the time.

* Many StockParodies of ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' joke about a Really700YearsOld dragon who [[TokenMiniMoe looks like a young girl]], but wears {{Stripperific}} clothing and is (creepily) a marriage option. While the first half of that sentence is legitimate RecurringElement, the second is not: Nowi (and potentially her child Nah) from ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' is to date the only example. Most members of the "young-looking dragon girl" (Tiki) archetype dress conservatively and don't have romantic paired endings. Tiki and Myrrh have implied {{Precocious Crush}}es, but they're never reciprocated. Since ''Awakening'' [[NewbieBoom brought the series into the mainstream]], parody creators assumed Nowi was indicative of a trend.

* When a story needs a parodic name for a hypothetical superhero, it'll more often than not be in the pattern <adjective> <verb>er, with the adjective and verb part alliterating. E.g. Avid Avenger, Purple Pugilist, etc. Just about the only well-known real superheroes whose name actually follows this formula are ComicBook/MartianManhunter and ComicBook/SilverSurfer. However, other Superheroes may have nicknames in this style (e.g. ComicBook/{{Superman}} being nicknamed Big Blue (or the Big Blue Boy Scout), ComicBook/Batman being nicknamed the Caped Crusader, ComicBook/IronMan being nicknamed the Armored Avenger, ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk being nicknamed the Green Goliath), making this misconception understandable. See SuperheroSobriquets for more details.

*** Interestingly, Christian characters like the aformentioned Daredevil, Nightcrawler or Starlight will be more likely to have their inclusive and healthy faith be questioned by a PoliticallyIncorrectVillain religious extremist. Hell, DD and Kurt's Devil iconography/appearence is more central to the character than their faith.

* When a story needs a parodic name for a hypothetical superhero, it'll more often than not be in the pattern <adjective> <verb>er, with the adjective and verb part alliterating. E.g. Avid Avenger, Purple Pugilist, etc. Just about the only well-known real superheroes whose name actually follows this formula are ComicBook/MartianManhunter and ComicBook/SilverSurfer. However, other Superheroes may have nicknames in this style (e.g. ComicBook/{{Superman}} being nicknamed Big Blue (or the Big Blue Boy Scout), ComicBook/IronMan being nicknamed the Armored Avenger, ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk being nicknamed the Green Goliath), making this misconception understandable. See SuperheroSobriquets for more details.

* When a story needs a parodic name for a hypothetical superhero, it'll more often than not be in the pattern <adjective> <verb>er, with the adjective and verb part alliterating. E.g. Avid Avenger, Purple Pugilist, etc. Just about the only well-known real superheroes whose name actually follows this formula are ComicBook/MartianManhunter and ComicBook/SilverSurfer. However, other Superheroes may have nicknames in this style (e.g. ComicBook/Superman being nicknamed Big Blue (or the Big Blue Boy Scout), ComicBook/IronMan being nicknamed the Armored Avenger, ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk being nicknamed the Green Goliath), making this misconception understandable. See SuperheroSobriquets for more details.

* The "*record needle scratch* *freeze frame* 'Yep, that's me. You're probably wondering how I ended up in this situation'" meme is supposedly a parody of '80s and '90s comedies that had this kind of opening, but nobody has ever been able to actually name an example from a film that had all of its elements (a combination of HowWeGotHere, RecordNeedleScratch, FreezeFrameIntroduction, and InMediasRes). Films that start with HowWeGotHere (''Film/FightClub'', ''Film/{{Goodfellas}}'') don't have the record needle scratch or freeze frame, and movies that have the freeze frame and narration, such as ''WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}}'', don't have the record needle scratch. The meme is basically a mash-up of several different movies' InMediasRes openings, rather than a direct parody of one.

* The "*record needle scratch* *freeze frame* 'Yep, that's me. You're probably wondering how I ended up in this situation'" meme is supposedly a parody of '80s and '90s comedies that had this kind of opening, but nobody has ever been able to actually name an example from a film that had all of its elements (a combination of HowWeGotHere, RecordNeedleScratch, FreezeFrameIntroduction, and InMediasRes). Films that start with HowWeGotHere (''Film/FightClub'', ''Film/{{Goodfellas}}'') don't have the record needle scratch or freeze frame, and movies that have the freeze frame and narration, such as ''WesternAnimation/{{Megamind}}'', don't have the record needle scratch. The meme is basically a mash-up of several different movies' InMediaRes openings, rather than a direct parody of one.

** The stereotype of the typical [[EasternRPG JRPG]] protagonist as a {{Wangst}}y, [[SpikyHair spikey-haired]] [[ImprobableAge teenager]] [[RummageSaleReject covered in belts and zippers]], swinging [[{{BFS}} a sword with its own zip code]]. The character the stereotype is [[TropeCodifier supposed to be based on]], [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Cloud Strife]], doesn't even hit all the points, since Cloud is a 21-year-old flamboyantly cocky {{Jerkass}} with [[TheMentallyDisturbed a whole different kind of mental problem to angst]] and two zippers (on his shoes). This perception is a [[CompositeCharacter combination]] of Cloud's [[IconicOutfit iconic character design]] with elements of the younger and sulkier Squall Leonhart from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' and a few bits and pieces of the considerably angstier Vincent Valentine; it was popular enough that ''Advent Children'' and ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' both used interpretations of Cloud based on this garbled version [[PanderingToTheBase so that the audience would still feel familiar with the character]]. Outside of the fanonised Cloud, characters that fit the complete stereotype can only be found as parodies (such as [[VideoGame/EatLeadTheReturnOfMattHazard Altos Tratus]]), and even those who come close are few and far in between; the genre as a whole tends to favour optimistic if not outright HotBlooded characters. There are JRPG characters who do fit the "angsty teen with a tragic backstory" stereotype, but they're much more likely to be side characters, TheLancer, or even antagonists. Much of the reason Cloud and Squall were so [[OnceOriginalNowCommon innovative]] was because their [[DarkerAndEdgier troubled, more realistic]] personalities were radically different from the IdiotHero types that dominate the genre.

** The stereotype of the typical [[EasternRPG JRPG]] protagonist as a {{Wangst}}y, [[SpikyHair spikey-haired]] [[ImprobableAge teenager]] [[RummageSaleReject covered in belts and zippers]], swinging [[{{BFS}} a sword with its own zip code]]. The character the stereotype is [[TropeCodifier supposed to be based on]], [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Cloud Strife]], doesn't even hit all the points, since Cloud is a 21-year-old flamboyantly cocky {{Jerkass}} with [[TheMentallyDisturbed a whole different kind of mental problem to angst]] and two zippers (on his shoes). This perception is a [[CompositeCharacter combination]] of Cloud's [[IconicOutfit iconic character design]] with elements of the younger and sulkier Squall Leonhart from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' and a few bits and pieces of the considerably angstier Vincent Valentine; it was popular enough that ''Advent Children'' and ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' both used interpretations of Cloud based on this garbled version [[PanderingToTheBase so that the audience would still feel familiar with the character]]. Outside of the fanonised Cloud, characters that fit the complete stereotype can only be found as parodies (such as [[VideoGame/EatLeadTheReturnOfMattHazard Altos Tratus]]), and even those who come close are few and far in between; the genre as a whole tends to favour optimistic if not outright HotBlooded characters. There are JRPG characters who do fit the "angsty teen with a tragic backstory" stereotype, but they're much more likely to be side characters, TheLancer, or even antagonists. Much of the reason Cloud and Squall were so [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny innovative]] was because their [[DarkerAndEdgier troubled, more realistic]] personalities were radically different from the IdiotHero types that dominate the genre.

* ManicPixieDreamGirl: This is an odd one, because the core details of the trope -- a quirky female with no independent goals of her own except to liven up the life of a brooding male -- rarely appear completely straight. The only three famous examples would be ''Film/BringingUpBaby'' and, several decades later, ''{{Film/Elizabethtown}}'' and ''Film/GardenState''. And the very next year, the trope was being deconstructed in ''Film/EternalSunshineOfTheSpotlessMind''. Actresses Zooey Deschanel, Audrey Tautou and Amy Adams are often associated with this typecasting in the 2000s, but their most famous Manic Pixie roles in fact play with the trope; the latter two have ''{{Film/Amelie}}'' and ''{{Film/Enchanted}}'' but both Amelie and Giselle are the protagonists, thereby immediately disqualifying them from being true Manic Pixies, while the former has ''Film/FiveHundredDaysOfSummer'' as an outright deconstruction. Subversions, deconstructions and even reconstructions far outnumber the straight examples. Nathan Rabin, who coined the term in reference to ''Elizabethtown'', later disowned it over blatant misuse; he intended to raise awareness for lack of independent goals in female characters, not demonize any quirky ones.

* RebornAsVillainessStory: Easily the most common model for female-oriented [[TrappedInAnotherWorld Isekai]] stories, they feature the lead being reincarnated into the body of the "villainess" (read: {{Ojou}} love rival) character in an [[RomanceGame otome game]], and usually takes place in an upper class society on the cusp of war where the villainess is set to marry the game's primary love interest. However, this kind of plotline does not commonly exist in real life otome games. Even considering the ''VideoGame/{{Angelique|KoeiTecmo}}'' series, most otome games do not match the description of the typical otome game seen in "otome isekai" stories, usually either using a comparatively modern setting or being about something else entirely, even in a medieval fantasy setting. The idea of love rivals and other important girls in otome, while not totally fictitious, mostly gives way to [[BefriendingTheEnemy "friendship routes"]] and even occasionally a GayOption; and as for antagonistic female characters, the ones that feature are usually pure villains. There ''are'' some prominent love rival characters in female-oriented works, but more often than not they're featured in [[ShoujoDemographic shoujo romance manga]] rather than in dating sims. And even then, that trope had [[AnimeAndMangaOfThe1990s hit its peak in the '90s]] and [[AnimeAndMangaOfThe2000s early 2000s]]. It is even lampshaded in one such story, ''The Old Man Reincarnated as a Villainess'', where the protagonist mentions prominent rival characters similar to the villainess of the story -- but they are all from classic shojo manga, not otome games.

* The idea of Franchise/{{Batman}} being a grim, brooding, CrazyPrepared semi-madman is more complicated than you would think. Batman became popular during UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks, when he was more or less a straight-laced InvincibleHero, and later from the [[Series/Batman1966 1966 TV series]] and the 1970s ''WesternAnimation/{{Superfriends}}'', which were unbelievably {{Camp}}y and where he was the furthest thing from gritty and brooding. He ''was'' a grim brooding anti-hero in the early 1940s, but this was also before his ThouShaltNotKill phase and basically can be chalked up to EarlyInstallmentWeirdness. The idea that the modern gritty Batman is a "return to classic Batman" is thus a misnomer, as this version of the character only really came out in UsefulNotes/{{the Bronze Age|OfComicBooks}} and works like ''ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'' and Creator/TimBurton's [[Film/Batman1989 1989 film]].

** Interestingly enough, it was actually ''Marvel's'' early [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] comics that had a more pronounced conservative bent (though at the time, they were being praised for portraying flaws on both sides of the spectrum). The '50s "Commie-Smasher" ComicBook/CaptainAmerica is probably the most infamous of the bunch -- enough that the celebrated Steve Englehart run retconned him into an impostor after years of that era being awkward non-canon weirdness that couldn't be addressed without violating UsefulNotes/TheComicsCode -- but a lot of early ComicBook/FantasticFour, ComicBook/IronMan, and even [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] stories had the heroes gallivanting around third-world countries fighting DirtyCommunists.

** It's also common in parodies of zombie fiction to set a ZombieApocalypse against the backdrop of 1950s suburbia, even though, as noted above ''Night of the Living Dead'' didn't come out until the very late '60s.

%%* When ''Film/TheSmurfs'' came out, the Internet acted like its premise of "beloved cartoon characters get sucked into the REAL WORLD" was already a cliché and the premise of basically every live-action reimagining of a classic cartoon. Except it had only happened once before, in ''Film/TheAdventuresOfRockyAndBullwinkle'', which hardly anyone actually saw and most such critics forgot even existed. (And that film had been a lot more ''Roger Rabbit''-like in its approach, as the characters were explicitly extracted from cartoon-land into a world where they were already recognized as cartoon stars.) The premise would eventually get played completely straight in ''Film/SonicTheHedgehog2020'', to a mostly positive response.

** The {{Unicorn}} (natch) is even more rare. If you do catch one, it won't be the delicate and pure creature like the modern trope, but the fierce and dangerous version of actual medieval legend.

** The Classic show wasn't entirely [[NoHuggingNoKissing sexless]] until it became an EnforcedTrope in the '80s, by which time the Doctor's asexuality was already a meme. The Doctor did not kiss his companions, and the show was not focused on romance at all, but {{U|nresolvedSexualTension}}ST was omnipresent and [[{{Double Entendre}} innuendo]] was common. Each of the first four Doctors got at least one story where they would be allowed to flirt with a pretty girl or be distracted by one; ImpliedLoveInterest relationships and ShipTease moments between the Doctor and his companion were common throughout the '70s;[[note]]Especially between the Fourth Doctor and his companion Romana, since Tom Baker really did have a relationship with Lalla Ward. The tabloid fodder that the relationship proved to be was one of the reasons the NoHuggingNoKissing rule was enforced in the '80s. The other was that Creator/PeterDavison was much closer in age to his co-stars Creator/JanetFielding and Creator/SarahSutton, making jokes and innuendo about hanky-panky in the TARDIS much more likely. To avert it, a mandate was enacted forbidding Davison to so much as lay hands on his female companions unless it was unavoidable. [[/note]] and the First Doctor was introduced with a granddaughter (which implies certain actions that produce children) and even got engaged to a GirlOfTheWeek in one story. The idea was not supposed to be that the Doctor had no sexual feelings -- just that the show wasn't about that sort of thing, and so it wouldn't make sense to include a TokenRomance. Nevertheless, fandom memory holds that the Doctor was NotDistractedByTheSexy (and possibly [[ExoticEquipment without the relevant parts]]) until the Revival series decided to make him into a ChickMagnet, and jokes to this extent have been made on the show. A disproportionate amount of this came from fans latching onto the Fourth Doctor's notorious "You're a beautiful woman... probably" line in "City of Death", which in context seems more likely to be deliberate mockery of the Countess's villainous attempts to distract him with sexiness than actual asexual innocence.

** On the other hand, the Revival series is often seen as "reversing" his asexuality into becoming TheCasanova. While there is kissing, more often than not he's on the receiving end (and is totally bewildered by it when he is); in fact, his disinterest in all the people coming on to him has made him look even ''more'' like a weird alien asexual. Part of it is that since the love interests are much more forward to him, there's the question of an actual RelationshipUpgrade, which he has to reject (partly because ItsNotYouItsMyEnemies, and partly because he's ReallySevenHundredYearsOld and [[MayflyDecemberRomance it just wouldn't work out]]). He ''did'' get married to River Song, but she described it as a one-way relationship ("you don't expect a sunset to admire you back").

* ''Series/TheXFiles'': The idea that Mulder is more accident-prone and/or incompetent than Scully. They're pretty much equal, though Scully is a doctor and Mulder is not. This may have stemmed from the fact that he's a bit of a goof, but [[BunnyEarsLawyer he's good at what he does]].

* HardcorePunk became heavily associated with the straight edge movement[[note]]due to the term being coined in the Minor Threat song "Straight Edge"[[/note]] leading to many tropes associated with straight edge associated with it. Straight edge was about abstaining from drugs and alcohol and leading a clean and sober lifestyle, however in the mid-'90s through early '00s it actually started a bit of a moral panic with the claim that straight edgers were in fact militant [[KnightTemplar Knight Templars]] who were beating up anyone who did use drugs or drink, and this became something often parodied by bands. In reality, the vast majority of HardcorePunk fans were not straight edge[[note]]Something that would've actually made many music venues economically unviable if this were not the case, due to how much of their income is often derived from the sale of alcoholic drinks.[[/note]] and militant straight edgers were basically an urban legend. While many bands promoted both straight edge and a sort of "tough guy" image, no actual band actually advocated beating up people who weren't straight edge. The misconception likely stems from the conflation of two unrelated phenomena, one being that some Mormon kids in Utah actually did take Mormon rules on abstaining from drugs and alcohol to a bit of a KnightTemplar extreme (even this was mostly just a few isolated incidents), and the presence of "crews", who were essentially street gangs linked to the HardcorePunk scene in a few cities, and thus incidents of actual violence breaking out at some shows, even though this was mostly unrelated to straight edge. It also is largely stemmed from the Earth Crisis song "Firestorm" that developed mass controversy for its lyrics that described a mass roundup and killing of drug dealers...but this was never anything but a fantasy of some young straight edgers.
** Everyone knows that straight edge bands always put X's around their band names right? Except...they don't. Aside from joke bands or ones that were at least an IndecisiveParody, it's pretty hard to come up with any examples of a band name that included X's as part of the official band name. Bands would sometimes stylize their names like this on shirts, but it was never intended to be the "official" name.

** Some hold the stereotype that all EasternRPG[=s=] have very generic anime art-styles and feature excessive amounts of fanservice, often with a dose of WorldOfBuxom and the main character (often [[SilentProtagonist Silent]]) getting a BattleHarem of some kind; all of which is used to criticise the genre. It also turns up as a standard setting in trashy {{Isekai}}. The only mainstream works that follow this stereotype are ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII'' (where the hero can potentially recruit three {{stripperiffic}} women, and the Sacred Bikini is the game's best armor) and ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2'' (where 90% of recruitable [[{{Mon}} Blades]] are buxom women in {{Stripperific}} outfits). Only ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX2'' on the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' side comes close, but there are no playable male characters, and the costumes vary based on the characters' jobs. The games that do follow the stereotype are generally niche {{Ecchi}} games that most JRPG fans haven't even heard of, let alone the general public. It should also be noted that most RPG parties are either [[TheSmurfettePrinciple predominantly men]] or gender-equal with maybe ''one'' female party member that fits the sexy stereotype.

* Many political commentaries with a liberal or a left-wing bent portray caricatured conservatives who are mocked for believing in "trickle-down economics", even though "trickle-down economics" was never a real theory or policy--the closest thing to how it's most commonly described is called "supply-side economics" by its proponents, but even then, it isn't given quite the same reasoning. The earliest references to the concept of money "trickling down" originated from the liberal writer Will Rogers, who intended it from the beginning to be a nonsensical parody of right-wing views, and since then has essentially only ever been used by various politicians as a vague pejorative to describe their opponents.

* Most homages to ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'' will describe {{Hell}} as a FireAndBrimstoneHell with demons with pointy sticks torturing sinners. This is actually a fairly ''uncommon'' punishment in Dante's Hell, and shown only a couple of times. Dante was instead enamored with the IronicHell, and indeed those bits of Hell where people are tortured are reserved for the kind of people who were torturers when they were alive. And while parts of his version of Hell are indeed the burning cauldron that pop culture would have you expect, as the book goes on, Hell becomes increasingly cold, with Satan himself trapped in ice at the very bottom.

* RebornAsVillainessStory: Easily the most common model for female-oriented [[TrappedInAnotherWorld Isekai]] stories, they feature the lead being reincarnated into the body of the "villainess" (read: {{Ojou}} love rival) character in an [[RomanceGame otome game]], and usually takes place in an upper class society on the cusp of war where the villainess is set to marry the game's primary love interest. However, this kind of plotline does not commonly exist in real life otome games. Even considering the ''VideoGame/{{Angelique}}'' series, most otome games do not match the description of the typical otome game seen in "otome isekai" stories, usually either using a comparatively modern setting or being about something else entirely, even in a medieval fantasy setting. The idea of love rivals and other important girls in otome, while not totally fictitious, mostly gives way to [[BefriendingTheEnemy "friendship routes"]] and even occasionally a GayOption; and as for antagonistic female characters, the ones that feature are usually pure villains. There ''are'' some prominent love rival characters in female-oriented works, but more often than not they're featured in [[ShoujoDemographic shoujo romance manga]] rather than in dating sims. And even then, that trope had [[AnimeAndMangaOfThe1990s hit its peak in the '90s]] and [[AnimeAndMangaOfThe2000s early 2000s]]. It is even lampshaded in one such story, ''The Old Man Reincarnated as a Villainess'', where the protagonist mentions prominent rival characters similar to the villainess of the story -- but they are all from classic shojo manga, not otome games.

* "Humanity, fuck yeah!" stories are usually claimed to be a subversion of humanity being a weak and dull species in sci-fi by depicting humanity as a highly dominant and feared power in a SpaceOpera setting. However, while HumansAreAverage is indeed a trope, it's a trope far more associated with fantasy than sci-fi (and even then, it's less "humans are boring" and more "humans are the baseline and everyone else has tradeoffs", with humanity almost always being the most widespread and common sapients). While there are stories out there where a sapient alien species is shown to be far superior to humanity in technology and/or morality, this is mostly confined to stories like ''Film/TheDayTheEarthStoodStill1951'' where humanity's technology is only modern. In a StandardSciFiSetting, it's far more common for humanity to be at worst a peer power to other alien races, and more often a superpower, usually only being truly outclassed by SufficientlyAdvancedAliens or by an antagonistic threat that our human protagonists ultimately overcome. HumanityIsSuperior and HumansAreWarriors are ''far'' more common--Creator/JohnWCampbell famously turned down any story that didn't play the former straight.