History SquarePegRoundTrope / QToZ

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter is about characters with great potential that don't get as much exposure as you think they deserve. It is often misused for complaining about poor characterizations, the way a character is handled in the story or the portrayal of a fan favorite in an adaptation, or a character not appearing in an episode at all.

* "Those Two Bad Guys" are a pair of villains who provide exposition and violence but is often used as if it's an EvilCounterpart to ThoseTwoGuys, which refers to two characters (good or evil) that are almost always together while simultaneously having little to no significance to the plot. As a result of the misuse, the trope has been renamed to BumblingHenchmenDuo.

* A ShoutOut has to be intentional on the part of the creators. It is not a coincidental similarity between works. Before you succumb to the urge to write "looks like a ShoutOut to", consider how likely it is that the creator of Work B is familiar with Work A, and whether or not the element in question bears more than a passing similarity to the element in the original work. Also note that, since tropes are patterns shared across works and even genres and mediums, it's possible for Work B to have a similar plot or many similar tropes to Work A and ''still'' not be a ShoutOut. In fact, if you don't ''know'' it's a ShoutOut, it's probably best not to mention it. Additionally, a ShoutOut has to be referring to a work outside the franchise; if it's referring to another work in the same franchise, then it's a MythologyGag instead; if it's referring to another work by the same creator, it's a [[CompanyCrossReference Company Cross-Reference.]]

* A ShoutOut has to be intentional on the part of the creators. It is not a coincidental similarity between works. Before you succumb to the urge to write "looks like a ShoutOut to", consider how likely it is that the creator of Work B is familiar with Work A, and whether or not the element in question bears more than a passing similarity to the element in the original work. Also note that, since tropes are patterns shared across works and even genres and mediums, it's possible for Work B to have a similar plot or many similar tropes to Work A and ''still'' not be a ShoutOut. In fact, if you don't ''know'' it's a ShoutOut, it's probably best not to mention it. Additionally, a ShoutOut has to be referring to a work outside the franchise; if it's referring to another work in the same franchise, then it's a MythologyGag instead.

* SpoiledSweet is frequently misused for any rich or spoiled character who also happens to be nice or not a complete brat. Sometimes the character in question is just rich and nice without the spoiled part, which is not this trope (or [[Administrivia/PeopleSitOnChairs any trope]] for that matter). The character has to be pampered and sheltered, genuinely sweet to everyone to the point of being naive, and adored by everyone, meaning a LonelyRichKid is disqualified by definition. Also, due to the nature of the trope, it's supposed to be AlwaysFemale, but people still add it to male characters.

* [[invoked]] DarthWiki/WhatAnIdiot is not just any stupidity, it's specific moments where you'd expect them to make a smart decision only to make a dumb one instead. The '''You'd Expect/Instead''' is critical as it must explain why audiences would expect them to make a smart decision in that moment. It does not apply when you wouldn't expect them to make a smart decision (they're normally stupid/unknowledgeable on the matter, not thinking straight at the moment, lack the time/information to make better thought out actions) or if there was no better option available or they would have know of at the time. Due to its misuse and StupidityTropes covering almost all such instances more objectively, it was made FlameBait prohibiting off-page usage.

* [[invoked]] DarthWiki/WhatAnIdiot is not just any stupidity, it's specific moments where you'd expect them to make a smart decision only to make a dumb one instead. The '''You'd Expect/Instead''' is critical as it must explain why audiences would expect them to make a smart decision in that moment. It does not apply when you wouldn't expect them to make smart decision (they're normally stupid/unknowledgeable on the matter, not thinking straight at the moment, lack the time/information to make better thought out actions) or if there was no better option available or they would have know of at the time. Due to its misuse and StupidityTropes covering almost all such instances more objectively, it was made FlameBait prohibiting off-page usage.

* TookALevelInJerkass is meant to be used for whenever a character undergoes a long term change in personality to become a {{Jerkass}}, whenever through CharacterDevelopment or {{Flanderization}}. However, many people tend to use it for any time a character shows Jerkass traits, even if they go back to being nice afterward, when that would go under JerkassBall instead.

* TookALevelInJerkass is meant to be used for whenever a character undergoes a long term change in personality to becomes a {{Jerkass}}, whenever through CharacterDevelopment or {{Flanderization}}. However, many people tend to use it for any time a character shows Jerkass traits, even if they go back to being nice afterward, when that would go under JerkassBall instead.

* "Some Anvils Need To Be Dropped" referred to when a story has an {{Anvilicious}} message, but the story actually works better because it's so blatant. Due to the misleading title, it was often used to say "any message I agree with that was done in an Anvilicious manner." Sometimes, it was even used when the message was well-written instead of being Anvilicious, was just an important message overall, or was just a nice, uplifting messages in general. SANTBD is about ''how'' the message is presented, not ''what'' the message is. The misuse overtook the original meaning to the point that SANTBD was reworked to simply redirect to {{Anvilicious}}.

* TokenBlackFriend had to be renamed from "Black Best Friend" because of this. The trope is about how, in many cases, a white character has a black friend who ends up being a SatelliteCharacter that exists [[TokenMinority for the sole purpose of making the white lead appear more progressive]]. Simply having a friend who is black is as tropeworthy as [[Administrivia/PeopleSitOnChairs people sitting on chairs]], and yet many well-developed black characters have had this trope listed on their character sheet just because they're friends with a non-black character.

* A WellIntentionedExtremist is an extremist who believes that noble ends ''justify'' cynical means, not someone who takes cynical means to achieve noble ends, though they can overlap. In a villainous context, it should specify why the character is still a villain even if they their actions are intended for noble ends.

* Amazingly enough, the word {{Trope}} itself has undergone severe Administrivia/TropeDecay on this site. A trope is something that's objectively a part of the work. AudienceReactions and {{Trivia}} are specifically stated on these pages to [[Administrivia/NotATrope not be tropes]], since they occur either in the work's audience or other external materials, not the work itself. Despite this, it's hard to find a page for an Audience Reaction or Trivia item that DOESN'T refer to itself as a Trope (they even all have “trope” as the page type in the sidebar), and the YMMV and Trivia subpages for most works contain examples that say "This trope happens" or something similar. Even this very page, supposedly dedicated to correcting misused terminology, contains examples describing Audience Reactions and Trivia as "tropes"! And PlayingWithATrope is something that can only be done to actual Tropes since Audience Reactions are very rarely "played" in the first place, so most examples on a YMMV page that are "Subverted" or "Downplayed" are inherently misuse.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny is for when a work that was once considered innovative or ground-breaking now comes off as mundane and derivative because [[FollowTheLeader other works]] or later installments have used its once unique aspects so often that they become commonplace. Some use it to bash any work that has gotten any degree of hate since its release date, regardless of if it was once unique or imitated.

* SpellMyNameWithAnS is supposed to be about official spelling mistakes, but it's frequently used for spells fans disagree with or just a regular name/word being spelt differently than it usually is.

* A RobotGirl is an artificial/mechanical being (e.g., ArtificialHuman, RidiculouslyHumanRobot, EnergyBeing, {{Cyborg}}, ArtificialIntelligence, SpaceshipGirl), usually female, who is shown in-universe to be attractive, not a collection of ''all'' female examples of the above, in-universe attractiveness notwithstanding.

* TokenHeroicOrc refers to when someone who used to work for the villains turns against said villains, and teams up with the heroes. It is not when someone who used to be a part of a villainous organization joins the heroes after the villains have already been defeated. This makes them a subversion, and most likely makes them more of the TokenGoodTeammate. [[labelnote:Example]] Although [[spoiler:[[VideoGame/FireEmblemEngage Mauvier]]]] used to be a part of the Four Hounds and eventually joins the heroes, he does so ''after'' the Hounds have already been defeated, thus he never turns against the villainous group that he was once apart of. This means that he is not a TokenHeroicOrc, but rather, is a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]] of one. [[/labelnote]]

* UnexpectedCharacter is about characters people had no reason to expect to appear, not characters that had a chance to not appear. The character being popular or important in some way is a pretty good reason to expect them to appear, but if the appearance isn't 100% guaranteed for reasons such as them being third-party or having a problematic creator, people will still add them as examples. Also, emphasis on the word "character" as this isn't a trope for anything unexpected. If something ends up being unexpected other than a character, then it would fall under ShockingMoments. Same thing goes for any character that is expected to appear, but certain other circumstances involving that character (such as them turning out to be the BigBad) to be unexpected as regardless of how unexpected those circumstances were, the fact still remains they were still expected to appear in some shape or form.