You have before you three series. The first, Series A, was the first known use of a trope, but it may or may not have been intentional. The second, Series B, was the first intentional use of the trope. The third, Series C, does not claim originality, and may in fact have ripped off series B, but is the template that all later uses of this trope follow.

Series A is the UrExample.

Series B is the TropeMaker.

Series C is the TropeCodifier.

In other words, if in tracing the history of a trope, one example stands out as the template that many, many other examples follow, that's the TropeCodifier.

The TropeMaker is frequently also the TropeCodifier, but not always. In particular, when the TropeMaker is a work of outstanding quality, the TropeCodifier may often be a story that shows how lesser authors can do a good imitation. Conversely, a great writer may gather up many old tropes and polish them to a shine, codifying them for later generations. Occasionally somebody rediscovers a ForgottenTrope.

The TropeCodifier may be [[TheThemeParkVersion the first theme park version]] or PragmaticAdaptation. If the trope is OlderThanTheyThink, the Codifier is usually ''mistaken'' for the TropeMaker. [[OlderThanDirt Really old tropes]] may have been codified every couple of centuries for millennia, as successive codifiers show how to adapt the age-old trope to their times. With the advent of television, a trope related to television may be codified by a new show every decade or two after the associations with previous codifiers have died out.

'''Important''': "Trope Codifier" does not mean SugarWiki/MostTriumphantExample. It means "Example that has fingerprints of influence on all later examples of the trope". The true marker of a Codifier is that it invents some unique spin on the trope that ''all'' later examples have some reaction to. Take, for example, {{Werewolves}}. There were earlier examples of werewolf stories, but it is with 1941's TheWolfMan that we first see werewolves as an infection (previously, it was a curse or part of a DealWithTheDevil), silver vulnerability (previously, it was ''vampires'' or ghosts who were usually associated with weakness to silver), made the werewolf a human cursed to turn into a wolf-man (previously, all kinds of variations were available, from wolf that turns into a man, to man who [[BalefulPolymorph was permanently turned into a wolf]]), and tied the wolf to the night of the full moon (previously, they either focused on the three nights around the full moon, or had little to do with the phase of the moon). Almost all later examples of Werewolves bear some of these subtropes, which originated with TheWolfMan, or at least [[DiscussedTrope discuss]] them in order to explain why OurWerewolvesAreDifferent. Thus, we can state with confidence that it is the TropeCodifier.
%% In other words, unless the trope is anime-specific, your anime example probably isn't the codifier.

Examples should be of {{Trope Codifier}}s that aren't TropeMakers themselves.

Related to OlderThanTheyThink. If a TropeCodifier is particularly influential, and the TropeMaker a little twisted you may have an UnbuiltTrope.

Also see SugarWiki/MostTriumphantExample.
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!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Anime & Manga]]
* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' is notable for reusing elements from several previous anime and manga that was influential to the creators while they were younger, including GoNagai ''Manga/{{Devilman}}'' and Tomino's ''Anime/SpaceRunawayIdeon'' and just all Super Robot shows under the sun.
** ''Eva'' is the TropeCodifier for DarkerAndEdgier, [[DeconstructioN Deconstructed]] mecha anime with a metaphysical edge. ''GaoGaiGar'' and ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' attempted to [[ReconstructioN Reconstruct]] the genre after it became overtaken by ''Eva''-inspired works.
* ''Manga/SailorMoon'' is frequently cited as the first user of the MagicalGirlWarrior subset of MagicalGirl shows. ''CuteyHoney'' used some of the tropes, but was usually seen as a straight-up SuperHero, especially since at the time "MagicalGirl" meant CuteWitch.
* [[Manga/RanmaOneHalf Ranma Saotome and Akane Tendo]] aren't even RumikoTakahashi's first couple with BelligerentSexualTension. But they're the standard by which all others are measured.
** Ranma is also the most likely codifier for MartialArtsAndCrafts unless someone who knows their kung-fu flicks can dethrone it - it's probably harder to think of a pursuit they ''didn't'' use in the series than one they did.
* ''LoveHina'' essentially defined the current style of {{Unwanted Harem}}s.
* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' popularized the concept of EquivalentExchange and MagicAIsMagicA, at least for anime and manga.
* If ''FistOfTheNorthStar'' is the TropeMaker for the shonen FightingSeries, then ''Manga/DragonBall'' and ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' are the codifiers.
* While there had been examples and uses of CyberPunk tropes in other series such as ''{{Appleseed}}'', ''GhostInTheShell'' is seen as codifying CyberPunk themes into anime such as [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots cyborgs]], TheMetaverse, and other such themes.
* ''Manga/{{Akira}}'' was the TC for anime as a whole in the US and UK - a 'cartoon' that was dark, grim, violent, bloody, beautiful and not a little {{mind screw}}y. As a consequence, it burrowed into the collective subconscious and created a new image that took years more to shake off.
* ''GundamWing'' jump-started the trend of HumongousMecha series having {{Bishonen}} protagonists to give it a PeripheryDemographic of young females.
* ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'' is the eternal TropeCodifier of the SchoolgirlSeries and associated tropes, including WackyHomeroom and SenseiChan.
** Also, Yukari set the standard by which all other [[DrivesLikeCrazy bad drivers]] are held up to.
** Also, she and Nyamo, at least in anime (unless [[{{Evangelion}} Misato and Ritsuko]] count), are TropeCodifier of HeterosexualLifePartners.
* ''VisualNovel/HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi'', at least in anime, probably codified [[CuteAndPsycho secretly unstable characters]] and GroundhogDayLoop.
* RurouniKenshin, the titular character is the codifier for XMarksTheHero.
* {{Naruto}} is the TropeCodifier for HighlyVisibleNinja and SealedInsideAPersonShapedCan
* ''{{Prince of Tennis}}'' is the TropeCodifier of the Anime sports show, even though there were other Anime sports shows before it.
* While it certainly existed earlier, ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha'' codified the DarkMagicalGirl trope for anime with the character of Fate Testarossa.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Comic Books]]
* ComicBook/{{Watchmen}} and TheDarkKnightReturns are co-codifiers of DarkerAndEdgier.
* {{Superman}} is the TropeCodifier of the FlyingBrick, and arguably the TropeCodifier of superheroes in general.
* {{Batman}} is the TropeCodifier of the BadassNormal superheroes and TheCowl.
* SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker is, of course, the TropeCodifier for [[MonsterClown Monster Clowns]]
* SpiderMan is often credited as being the TropeCodifier for both the non sidekick KidHero and WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld.
** Also to BuildingSwing, Since almost every time you see it anywhere else, it is a reference, or [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by a character.
* Jay Garrick, the first [[TheFlash Flash]] is the TropeCodifier for the specialized single super power superhero.
* Robin is the codifier for KidSidekick.
* {{The Punisher}} is the TropeCodifier of the SociopathicHero.
* John Constantine the ''{{Hellblazer}}'' is the TropeCodifier of characters being ExiledFromContinuity and ignoring ComicBookTime, as well as DidYouJustScamCthulhu.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film]]
* ''Film/{{Halloween 1978}}'' was the TropeMaker for the Slasher genre, but ''Film/FridayThe13th1980'' was the Trope Codifier. In particular, ''Film/FridayThe13th1980'' was the actual TropeMaker for DeathBySex rather than Death By Not Paying Attention (Including Having Sex) for all the imitators that followed.
* ''Franchise/StarWars'':
** is the Trope Codifier for Joseph Campbell's [[TheHerosJourney Hero's Journey]] (as well as a heck of a lot of other ideas). Campbell described the pattern based on a range of heroic myths, but today, any good story that follows the Hero's Journey pattern is accused of ripping off ''Franchise/StarWars'' -- and any ''bad'' story that follows the Hero's Journey pattern actually ''does''.
** ''Franchise/StarWars'' (along with ''Film/BladeRunner'') was also instrumental in making the UsedFuture concept widespread.
** The OldSchoolDogfight was popularized by the films' use of it as an {{homage}} to UsefulNotes/WorldWarII air war films, with the Death Star trench run in ''Film/ANewHope'' in particular inspired by ''Film/TheDamBusters''.
* ''Film/BladeRunner'' is the codifier of {{Cyberpunk}}. It was one of the first films that portrayed the future as more dark and grimy and served as the inspiratin for a lot of films.
* ''Film/{{Batman}}'' was not the first SuperheroMovie, but it was the one that showed that superheroes were very profitable. It also altered the archetype of the SummerBlockbuster: changed it "huge mass-marketing machines that were as much made to sell merchandise as they were to sell tickets" to "huge mass-marketing machines that were as much made to sell merchandise as they were to sell tickets, and are based on an existing property that the audience already has an attachment to".
* The 1931 movie version of ''Film/{{Dracula}}'' codified most modern VampireTropes.
** And the Trope Codifier for OurVampiresAreDifferent would be ''Film/{{Nosferatu}}'', which was where vampires being weak to sunlight originated from.
* The 1941 film ''[[Film/TheWolfMan1941 The Wolf Man]]'' codified the tropes for [[WolfMan werewolves]], as well as being the UrExample of several tropes such as silver bullets, the famous poem about the curse, and the contagious nature of werewolf bites - before the film, weakness to silver and contagion were vampiric traits.
* ''BirthOfANation'' pulled together all of the little camera tricks and editing techniques that were tried in the early years of film into a coherent set of storytelling tools. It was also horrendously racist. The gymnastics film history classes have to go through because of this are quite amusing.
** The film caused such a headache for critic Roger Ebert when he repeatedly considered featuring it in his ''Great Movies'' series of essays that he always held off writing about it. When he finally decided to address it, he did it in two parts, explaining to readers that Part 1 would discuss the racism and history, just to get it out of the way. Part 2 would then be free to discuss the art of filmmaking without offending anyone. Even with the boundaries clearly defined, he had a heck of time writing that essay.
** ''TriumphOfTheWill'' was this for documentaries. It was another source of mental gymnastics for film history and also a codifier of certain cinemtographic techniques.
* ''ThisIsSpinalTap'': The Codifier for the feature film {{Mockumentary}} genre. The TropeMaker is probably ''{{Zelig}}'' Woody Allen, released just one year before (1983). The older example, TheRutles' ''All You Need Is Cash'' being a television film (1978).
* ''TheBlairWitchProject'' is the trope codifier for the [[FoundFootageFilms found footage]] mockumentary horror films '00s. The trope maker is CannibalHolocaust.
* 1972's ''ThePoseidonAdventure'' pretty much established the template for future [[DisasterMovie disaster movies]], despite sharing many elements with earlier entries of the genre like ''Film/ANightToRemember''.
* Time travel; UrExample: ''Literature/AConnecticutYankeeInKingArthursCourt'' by MarkTwain. TropeMaker: ''TheTimeMachine'' by HGWells. TropeCodifier: ''Film/BackToTheFuture''.
* The ''Film/CreatureFromTheBlackLagoon'' wasn't the first FishPerson, but he's certainly the best-known and most influential example.
* There were car chases on film before, but the one in ''Film/{{Bullitt}}'' became the most famous one which all films after tried to emulate.
* ''BlackHawkDown'' is the first major movie that popularized modern, 21st century (although the movie actually takes place in 90s, the principle is intact) warfare. This movie is majorly responsible for the games like ModernWarfare, VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4, and VideoGame/ResidentEvil5.
* The HollywoodNuns trope owes itself largely to three films. ''Film/TheSongOfBernadette'' (1943) was the initial TropeCodifier, and ''The Nun's Story'' (1959) and ''Theatre/TheSoundOfMusic'' (1965) solidly reinforced the trope. Because they were so popular, they were used as templates for nuns in film forever after.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* The StandardFantasySetting's TropeMaker was ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''; the Trope Codifier was ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''.[[note]]As a minor footnote, the concept of a Trope Codifier was originally suggested by the fact that Dungeons And Dragons clearly pioneered and set in stone certain aspects of the StandardFantasySetting, but didn't seem to qualify for full TropeMaker status.[[/note]]
** Except for VancianMagic, which was [[TropeMaker made by]] ''Literature/DyingEarth'' and codified by ''D&D''.
*** ''D&D'' can also be seen as the Trope Maker of Fantastic Miniatures War Games (Chainmail was the UrExample of a Mini's games featuring fantastic elements, and D&D was originally just the "small warbands" variant of it), but TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}} and TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} are the Trope Codifiers.
** Another Trope Codifier was Terry Books's novel ''The Sword of {{Shannara}}'', which showed that {{Doorstopper}} fantasy novels that weren't written by Tolkien could also go on to sell zillions of copies.
* ''SherlockHolmes'' is the Trope Codifier for many detective tropes; EdgarAllanPoe's ''Dupin'' stories were the TropeMaker, including such tropes as the less astute [[TheWatson Watson figure as narrator]] and the far-reaching deductions based on attention to seemingly trivial details.
** A second possibility, wildly popular at the time but now more obscure, is ''Literature/TheMoonstone'' by Wilkie Collins. It placed such concepts as the private detective helping out the near useless police and the LockedRoomMystery into the popular consciousness a few decades before Doyle's novels.
* ''Theatre/{{Medea}}'' is the Trope Codifier for the WomanScorned, although Ishtar from ''Literature/TheEpicOfGilgamesh'' is the [[UrExample oldest known example]].
* Creator/RaymondChandler is considered the Trope Codifier of [[HardboiledDetective hard-boiled crime fiction]], following Carroll John Daly with the Ur-example (his "Knights Of the Open Palm" was published several months before Hammett's first '[[Literature/TheContinentalOp Continental Op]]' story) and Creator/DashiellHammett (the TropeMaker).
* The earliest use of AncientAstronauts is ''Edison's Conquest of Mars'' from 1898, but the first popular story to use the concept was ''[[Creator/HPLovecraft At the Mountains of Madness]]'' from 1931.
* ''The Red Badge of Courage'' did this for WarIsHell.
* While ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'' was the first modern codifier for [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampiric tropes]], TheVampireChronicles by AnneRice was a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]] that served to codify the current template used by everyone from [[VampireTheRequiem White Wolf]] to ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' and ''Film/{{Underworld}}''. [[UndeadHorseTrope Both kinds of vampire are in active use, of course.]]
** With an exception: for easily understood reasons, most successors have thrown out Anne Rice's vision of vampires as lacking sufficient bloodflow to get it up.
* Contrary to [[OlderThanTheyThink what some fans believe]], ''HarryPotter'' didn't originate the WizardingSchool trope -- but it is such a prominent codifying example that everything that comes after (and some things that came before) will have to either FollowTheLeader or strenuously differentiate itself from Hogwarts.
* ''Literature/SnowCrash'' is widely recognized as the codifier for TheMetaverse and the DigitalAvatar but WilliamGibson did them first.
* Jonathan Swift's ''A Modest Proposal'' is regarded as the codifier of the StealthParody.
* Creator/RobertEHoward's ConanTheBarbarian codified the BarbarianHero -- and many other SwordAndSorcery tropes, at least among those he wasn't the TropeMaker for it.
* ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' is the codifier of the ''mainstream'' ParanormalRomance genre.
* ''Literature/We'' is the trope maker for dystopic fiction, but ''Literature/BraveNewWorld'' and ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'' are the codifiers.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Live Action TV]]
* In {{Reverse Whodunnit}}s, the Trope Codifier is ''Series/{{Columbo}}'', TropeMaker being R. Austin Freeman's ''Dr. Thorndyke''.
* Despite the name, DawsonCasting was neither made nor codified by ''DawsonsCreek''; ''BeverlyHills90210'' does the codifying honors there. Possible Trope Makers include ''Theatre/ByeByeBirdie'', in which 21-year-old Ann-Margaret played the 16-year-old-lead, and the ''many'' 1960s beach movies in which Annette Funicello, in her ''late thirties'' by the time the last ones were made, played ostensibly fresh-faced debutantes.
** 90210 is also the TropeCodifier for a TeenDrama; it borrowed heavily from ''Series/DegrassiJuniorHigh'' and, besides adding the too-old "kids" moved the setting from a nondescript part of {{Toronto}} to one of the [[SlidingScaleOfShinyVersusGritty shiniest]] places the writers could think of. Two things most teen dramas since have kept in the mix.
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'' did not ''invent'' modern science-fiction television; but it made many science-fiction tropes commonplace on television, so much so that it is its own franchise and has influenced almost every subsequent speculative fiction series since, up to and including ''Series/{{Heroes}}''.
** ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' did codify the RedShirt, but in the earliest episodes they weren't actually wearing red shirts.
* The ''KamenRider'' franchise, while not the first HenshinHero example(that would likely go to the UltraSeries), is the go-to standard for HenshinHero.
* Mork from ''MorkAndMindy'' is the most prominent example of an AmusingAlien.
* ''IronChef'' is the TropeCodifier for the CookingDuel trope.
* ''{{Eastenders}}'' is definitely the trope codifer for a miserable SoaplandChristmas.
* ''MalcolmInTheMiddle'' is the trope codifier for the single camera, on-location, LaughTrack-free sitcom that became popular on United States broadcast television during the 2000's. There were a handful of pre-''Malcolm'' shows that featured such setups, but these (namely ''TheAdventuresOfPeteAndPete'' and ''TheLarrySandersShow'', both of which qualify as the TropeMaker of such setups) aired on either pay or niche ''cable'' channels as opposed to the then-more popular broadcast television netowrks.
** A year before ''Malcolm'' premiered, ''{{Spaced}}'' did the same thing for British sitcoms.
* EverybodyLovesRaymond was hugely influential to later sitcoms and is a codifier for AllWomenArePrudes in sitcoms (the notoriously anti-sex Debra)
** It was also a reinforcer of the feminist wife who was always right, even if she argued that the sky was kelly green, initially codified by HomeImprovement, where wife Jill was a self-admitted feminist and Tim was the one who screwed up 99.5% of the time.
* ''SavedByTheBell'' is the TropeCodifier for the SixStudentClique.
* ''TheRealWorld'' is the Trope Codifier for {{Reality Show}}s.
* ''{{V}}'' is the TropeCodifier for OminousFloatingSpaceship.
* Lionel Luthor from ''{{Smallville}}'' is the TropeCodifier for MagnificentBastard. The phrase itself comes from the 1970 movie ''Film/{{Patton}}'', and was used extensively by TelevisionWithoutPity's recaps of ''Smallville'', to describe Lionel and the prodigious wheeling and dealing he engaged in throughout the course of the series.
* ''KamenRiderRyuki'' is the trope codifier for [[ThereCanOnlyBeOne Battle Royale-esque]] fiction in Japanese media.
* ''{{Cheers}}'' and BelligerentSexualTension. Sam and Diane provided the template for sitcoms to follow. Ditto for the WillTheyOrWontThey romantic storyline.
** Diane herself is a kind of modern-day "re-codifier" for the SpiritedYoungLady.
* The 2007 reboot of ''Series/BionicWoman'' was the beginning of a trend of adorning hot {{Badass}} Action Girls in leather jackets, even when such attire would be so uncomfortable it'd be a hindrance (such as in summer heat), but it became a new standard for both RuleOfCool and RuleOfSexy. Regardless, after this, we see the leather jacket begin to lose its 20th century image as a macho coat worn by a BadAss like [[HappyDays Fonzie]] and become seen as a feminine piece of attire that [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience just screams]] ActionGirl with the leather jacket on badass males slowly becoming TheArtifact except on villains. Notable examples of this trend are Erica Evans in V, Carrie Wells in Unforgettable, Renee Walker from 24 (and even one of the main female villains), and especially [[spoiler: Olivia and Peter's future daughter]] Etta, who [[OlderThanTheyLook looks 17 but is really 25]] in 2036 who is from Fringe.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
* By the time of MichaelJackson, {{music video}}s were evolving beyond just shots of the band, but he set the standard for everything that came after him.
* If Music/LedZeppelin was the UrExample of Music/HeavyMetal, and Music/BlackSabbath was the TropeMaker, Music/JudasPriest is certainly the TropeCodifier. They started the standard image of leather, spikes, studs, and denim, removed much of the blues elements that were very apparent in earlier examples of metal (Led Zeppelin was called blues-rock, after all), and made metal cool again in the late 70s. Music/{{Motorhead}} also helped in the codifying of metal. They took influence from PunkRock and from Music/HeavyMetal and, in turn, inspired much of ThrashMetal.
** W.A.S.P. was the Trope Codifier of heavy metal's ''image'' in the 1980s, combining the Judas Priest facade above with KISS and Alice Cooper-style shock rock antics turned up to eleven, unsubtle Satanic imagery, songs about sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll, big hair, pointy guitars and spandex.
* Pierre Schaeffer's 1948 opus ''Cinq Études de Bruits'' was not the world's first musique concrète. John Cage's ''Imaginary Landscape'' and perhaps other such works predate it. But it was the first music to have that label (coined by Schaeffer), and codified the genre.
* Richard Wagner coined the term "leitmotif" in an 1851 essay and codified the concept in his famous cycle ''Der Ring des Nibelungen,'' which he had been working on at the time. But the trope was invented two decades earlier by Hector Bérlioz, who called it "idée fixe" in his own writings.
* Using Auto-Tune for a robotic effect didn't become prominent until the arrival of {{T-Pain}} in 2005. Unlike other artists that relegated it to subtle uses or genres aiming for a digitalized sound (such as electronica or techno), T-Pain used it obviously and flagrantly on nearly all of his releases. His huge success led to a slew of imitators within pop, R&B, and hip hop.
* If this trope is possible on one network, then HilaryDuff is the trope codifier for the current batch of teenage {{Idol Singer}}s on DisneyChannel. Before her, Disney Channel stars didn't really do much outside of the show. After her, Disney practically required all of their actresses to sing regardless of talent.
* Despite Music/BuckTick and XJapan being prominent early examples, KuroYume set the template for nearly every VisualKei band that followed, including better known (at least in the West) examples such as DirEnGrey and LunaSea.
* While Music/ToddEdwards certainly didn't invent sampling, he made it into an ''art form.'' What he does is he takes sometimes up to ''100'' samples from different songs and creates new melodies with them. This type of sampling is often referred to as "microsampling."
* Dizzee Rascal's debut album, ''Boy in da Corner'', popularized grime, a fusion genre mixing rap with electronic music.
* Nitzer Ebb combined many of the particulars of early EBM bands and brought all the elements together for the sound that most EBM bands afterward would follow. Front 242 created the name EBM, and DAF (or perhaps Kraftwerk) had many of the elements of the sound, but Nitzer Ebb would be the model for the future.
* LLCoolJ's "I Need Love" is considered the first rap ballad (though the UrExample would probably be Sugarhill Gang's 1982 song "The Lover in You"), showing that rappers need love too. Because of this song, even the most gimmicky OneHitWonder-y rapper will release at least one slow love song.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' is easily the codifier for HatingOnMondays.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Creator/GeoffreyChaucer is the TropeCodifier for ''the English Language''.
[[/folder]]


[[folder: Tabletop Games]]
* It's unclear whether or not ''Advanced TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' [[hottip:**:'Dungeons and Dragons' used Lawful, Neutral and Chaotic for alignments. AD&D picked up from there and added good and evil as modifiers to all three.]] was the first to present an alignment alignment system beyond good/neutral/evil, but it was definitely the most prominent, and its nine-point alignment system comprises all of the CharacterAlignment tropes today. Ironically, the most recent version of the game has done away with the alignment system, for the most part.
** The OrderVersusChaos aspect was borrowed from MichaelMoorcock, for what that's worth.
** Original D&D only used Law/Neutral/Chaos. Later in the Strategic Review (the forerunning of Dragon) Gygax penned an article with five alignments: Neutral plus the four pairs using Good/Evil crossed with Law/Chaos. This version was used in Holmes's Blue Book Basic D&D. Soon after the AD&D PHB had the nine-fold system.
** While the connection might be coincidental, The Nolan Chart (a Trope Codifier in its own right) was published in 1971 (seven years before the AD&D 1e Players Handbook) as a two-dimensional alternative to the traditional left-right political analysis. Communitarianism vs. individualism might be analagous to law and chaos, but YMMV as to whether free markets are chaotic and good or chaotic and evil.
** D&D in general either made or codified a whole slew of gaming tropes, including ArmorAndMagicDontMix, CharacterClassSystem, LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards, SkillScoresAndPerks, and so forth.
* The Zerg of ''Franchise/StarCraft'' may have been the namers for ZergRush, but the Tyranids, of ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'', were infamous for the tactic long before the Swarm came around. Of course, both being based on the Bugs from ''Franchise/StarshipTroopers'' the similarities are unavoidable, the Result being an odd case where the TropeNamer came after the Codifier.
** Also The book also broke all the Bugs into casts of Worker and Warrior bugs, all directed by a special hierarchy of subterranean Brain Bugs.
* ''{{GURPS}}'' quite literally defined the WeirdnessMagnet trope.
* Although there were {{Trading Card Game}}s older than MagicTheGathering (mostly using baseball cards), most of the tropes associated with modern [=TCGs=] started with Magic.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theatre]]
* Creator/WilliamShakespeare is another example; he used almost entirely unoriginal plots (with his fame coming from ''executing'' them brilliantly), so anybody harkening back to Shakespeare for a basic plot is going to the TropeCodifier, rather than the TropeMaker.
* "Laurey Makes Up Her Mind" from ''{{Oklahoma}}'' was the TropeCodifier for {{Dream Ballet}}s in musicals.
** ''{{Oklahoma}}'' can also be considered the TropeCodifier for integrated musicals in general. Prior "musicals" were generally either plays interrupted by occasional songs or flimsy plots that were just an excuse to move between song and dance numbers. Show Boat is usually considered the first musical to integrate song, dance, and story, but it was hard for others to imitate. ''{{Oklahoma}}'' provided a template that other musicals used pretty much until AndrewLloydWebber showed up.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games]]
* QuickMelee has existed in some form in shooters, but the ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' series is what started the trend in modern shooters, and the ''ModernWarfare'' series and ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps'' are what made the "press a button to pull out your knife and stab with it in one motion" almost standard in recent shooters.
* ''VideoGame/Wolfenstein3D'' and ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' by IdSoftware weren't the first [[FirstPersonShooter First Person Shooters]] (or even id's first First Person Shooter), but the two games popularized the genre and each inspired dozens of imitators. For a while, first person shooters were often called "Doom clones." While these games are very primitive by today's standards--you can't jump or even look up--Doom remains to this day a partial trope codifier, popularizing [[CompetitiveMultiplayer Death matches]], FPS games with built in support for [[GameMod Game Mods]], [[TeleFrag telefragging your friends]], etc.
* ''VideoGame/{{Breakout}}'' is the TropeMaker (and TropeNamer) for BreakingOut, but most future examples of the genre are more based on TropeCodifier ''VideoGame/{{Arkanoid}}'', which added in power-ups.
* ''{{Quake}}'' is the codifier for the 'mouselook' control scheme, where instead of only using a keyboard to control an FPS character, you control the view with a mouse as well. Bungie's ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'' is the UrExample, ''Terminator Future Shock'' is the Trope Maker, but due to ''Marathon'' being on the Apple platform, and Terminator Future Shock just not being popular, it took until Quake and its innovative online multiplayer before the mouselook feature became codified.
* Even though ''VideoGame/{{DOOM}}'' was the UrExample of the SpaceMarine trope in videogames, ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' became the poster boy for the trope for the post-2000 generation. It also didn't actually ''pioneer'' any of the revolutions in gameplay it featured (all of them, from limited inventory, to RegeneratingHealth, to QuickMelee attacks, to separate buttons for firearms and grenades, had been done before in previous games), but it is unquestionably the game which popularized them all to the point that most modern First Person Shooters now use them by default.
* ''SuperMarioBrothers'' was the Codifier for {{Platform Game}}s (see TheOtherWiki's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/platformer#Scrolling_era article on platform games]]).
** And ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' was definitely not the TropeMaker for 3D Platformers (see TheOtherWiki's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platformer#Third_dimension article on platform games]]), but was definitely what all later games imitated.
** Not to mention ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' having the Codifier (and [[RenamedTropes former]] TropeNamer) for PowerupMount.
*** And then we have the romhacks... ''KaizoMarioWorld'' codified PlatformHell (and, of course, KaizoTrap).
** Also worth noting is ''VideoGame/MarioParty'', codifier for the party game genre. Chances are, the trope maker would be its obscure, Japan-only Spiritual Predecessor ''Getter Love!!'' (assuming nothing came before that one).
** Before even ''SuperMarioBrothers'' is ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong'', which popularized the platformer genre and also codified ThrowABarrelAtIt.
* ''EverQuest'' is the Trope Codifier for just about every single MMO trope of today. While it wasn't the first of its kind ([=MUDs=] and ''Ultima Online'' get that title), it was the first to establish the model that other [=MMOs=] would follow, up to and including ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft''.
** VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft later became a second Trope Codifier for the MMO genre.
* ''VideoGame/{{Pong}}'' is usually considered the first VideoGame by the general public. The ''actual'' first VideoGame is debatable depending on how you define VideoGame, ranging from an unnamed game of VideoGame/CathodeRayTubeAmusementDevice in 1947 to the 1972-released MagnavoxOdyssey game console (the strongest contender turning out to lie smack in the middle, 1962's ''VideoGame/SpaceWar!''), but the consensus is that Pong is the Trope Codifier rather than the true TropeMaker.
* [[VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} Warcraft II]], while not the first RealTimeStrategy game, ''was'' the first one to formalize the RPG aspects, including clearly visible hit point counters and {{Hero Unit}}s.
* Although there were definitely 3D beat'em ups/hack-and-slashers in the PS1/Sega Saturn/Nintendo 64 era, the first ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' gave the genre new popularity and credence and is widely seen as the key inspiration for similar "Stylish Action" games like ''VideoGame/GodOfWar''. Many subsequent titles in the genre either directly take inspiration for it or, via aping direct so-to-speak offspring like aforementioned ''God of War'', indirectly draw from it.
** Chaining on that previous point, ''God of War'' is one for ActionCommands.
** Actually, God of War and Resident Evil 4 came out the same year. That would be why they're both credited. How one views the PressXToNotDie is another matter entirely.
* ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'' for {{Fighting Game}}s.
** Also, Ryu is this to {{Shotoclone}}s.
*** CapcomVsWhatever games for the concept of "tag battle" fighters (discounting wresting games, which have wildly different gameplay.)
* VideoGame/ResidentEvil for the SurvivalHorror despite not being the first of its kind.
** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'' for the AlwaysOverTheShoulder ThirdPersonShooter.
* For the 3D FightingGame, ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'' is the most likely codifier, bringing together concepts introduced in [[TropeMaker preceding 3D fighters]] like ''VideoGame/VirtuaFighter'' and ''VideoGame/BattleArenaToshinden''.
* Broadly speaking, nothing in any Blizzard game is new or original. They just introduce and tweak the successful elements of previous games to make ones that are quite good. One thing they did create was [[StopPokingMe units giving ever more amusing responses if you won't leave them alone]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Worms}}'' codified the turn-based artillery gameplay of games like Gorillas and Artillery.
* While ''{{Recca}}'' probably was the UrExample and ''Batsugun'' was definitely the TropeMaker, ''DoDonPachi'' codified very much of BulletHell. And it continues to redefine and codify the meaning of it as the TrueFinalBoss Hibachi has progressively gotten harder and harder [[NintendoHard beyond belief]].
* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' [[TropeCodifier codifies]] the [[EasternRPG JRPG-Genre]], but the TropeMaker and UrExample is ''Dragon Quest''
** It's interesting to know that ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' [[TropeCodifier codifies]] [[EasternRPG the trope]] anywhere [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff but in Japan itself]], while in Japan, ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' is considered to be UrExample, TropeMaker and [[TropeCodifier Codifier]] all together. Which is a little funny considering how much ''Dragon Quest'' in turn borrowed from the ''Franchise/{{Ultima}}'' series.
** Even then in the same continent, ''FireEmblemShadowDragon'' is regarded as the UrExample of the StrategyRPG genre, whereas its TropeMaker is the franchise's fifth installment, ''[[FireEmblemJugdral Thracia 776]]''. The TropeCodifier outside Japan however, could either be ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'', the ''OgreBattle'' series or even ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea}}''.
* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'', particularly ''Grand Theft Auto III'', codified the WideOpenSandbox genre.
* ''{{Pokemon}}'' is the codifier for the [[{{Mon}} monster-capturing]] game genre, [[TropeMaker predated by]] the DarkerAndEdgier ''ShinMegamiTensei'' series.
* TowerDefense games were one of the major categories of user-made maps in ''{{Starcraft}}'', but the relatively primitive map editing tool and limited selection of combat-capable buildings meant that there was a far greater emphasis on mobile units. ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} III'' brought a more sophisticated editor which could be used to make custom buildings, and maps for that game codified the variety of towers, upgrade options, and lack of mobile attackers that are common in the genre today.
* Also on mods/user-made maps, ''DefenseOfTheAncients'' is not the Maker for MultiplayerOnlineBattleArena. The concept was Made by ''Aeon of Strife'' from the ''Franchise/StarCraft'' days. However, [=DotA=] is the best-known example of the type and it's no great stretch to claim that dedicated games like ''LeagueOfLegends'' or ''VideoGame/{{Demigod}}'' would not exist without it.
* ''VideoGame/{{Unreal}}'' is the codifier for SecondaryFire, as every weapon in the game has an alternative firing option. This persisted through the entire Unreal series, including [[VideoGame/UnrealTournament Tour]][[VideoGame/UnrealTournament2004 na]][[VideoGame/UnrealTournamentIII ment]] games, and is now considered virtually mandatory in any FPS game.
* ''GearsOfWar'' took the idea of TakeCover as an integral part of the gameplay system - as opposed to an organic "hide behind stuff so you stop getting shot" - from earlier games, but the concept's subsequent popularity would most likely not exist without it.
* {{Metroid}} was [[TropeMaker the first]] {{Metroidvania}}-game, and [[EvenBetterSequel Super Metroid]] is the TropeCodifier.
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda'' codified the ActionAdventure genre, boasting innovations such as a battery save feature and open-ended gameplay, while eliminating irrelevant tropes such as ScoringPoints. However, it was predated by ''VideoGame/{{Adventure}}'' for the Atari 2600.
* While most certainly not the first SurvivalHorror game, SilentHill introduced, or at least popularized atmosphere with limited visibility that maximizes NothingIsScarier.
* While the ActionRPG genre had already seen some entries, ''KingdomHearts'' made it mainstream; virtually every ActionRPG since ''KingdomHearts'' owes at least a partial debt to its formula.
* While ''VideoGame/DuneII'' is the most likely candidate for the very first RealTimeStrategy, ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer'' pioneers many of the features that are present in the genre.
* While ModernWarfare wasn't the first game to use an RPG-esque leveling-up system for its multiplayer, you'd be hard pressed to find another online FPS today that doesn't use a system almost exactly like it. It's fairly easy to implement and can keep the player invested for another fifteen to twenty hours that they normally wouldn't have bothered with.
* ''TwistedMetal'' wasn't the first competitive VehicularCombat game (Both ''Battlesport'' and ''Cybersled'' predates it), but it certainly did popularize the genres and some features, such as tournament-based storylines, quirky characters and more differentiated vehicles.
* The {{Roguelike}} genre has two important codifiers: ''VideoGame/NetHack'' introduced many features that have since become commonplace in the genre and ''VideoGame/{{Angband}}'' created a whole, thriving sub-genre of its own.
* The VisualNovel ''VisualNovel/SchoolDays'' is known for the PsychoticLoveTriangle of Matoko Itou, Kotonoha Katsura and Sekai Saionji. To say the least, [[WomanScorned it]] [[MurderTheHypotenuse can]] [[IfICantHaveYou end]] [[BadEnding VERY BADLY]].
* Any new WideOpenSandbox [[SimulationGame space simulator]] is highly likely to be compared to at least one of three games: ''VideoGame/{{Freelancer}}'', the ''VideoGame/{{X}}-Universe'' series, and ''VideoGame/EVEOnline''. The latter two are better known among younger gamers that may not be familiar with ''Freelancer''[[note]]While ''Freelancer'' did come out later than ''VideoGame/XBeyondTheFrontier'', the ''X'' series got new entries and continuous updates throughout the [[TurnOfTheMillennium 2000's]], while Chris Roberts has been on a ten-year vacation from game-making.[[/note]]. Single-player sims are more likely to be compared with ''X'', Egosoft being essentially the only [[{{Pun}} game]] in town for nigh-on ten years, while [=MMOs=] are usually compared to ''EVE''. As a result, ''Freelancer'' creator Chris Roberts' single-player/MMO hybrid ''VideoGame/StarCitizen'' has drawn comparisons to both.\\
\\
Those games in turn owe much of their formula to the ''VideoGame/{{Elite}}'' series, the TropeMaker for {{Wide Open Sandbox}}es in general.
* Fighting massive creatures in games isn't anything new, however, after ShadowOfTheColossus came along; taking on behemoths would never be the same again. Hence, the ColossusClimb.
* The two most common forms of contemporary WesternRPG were codified by Creator/{{Bethesda}} and Creator/BioWare after the genre's crash in the mid-90ies:
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIDaggerfall Daggerfall]]'' (and ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series in general) codified the exploration-driven single-character [=RPGs=] whose main appeal is the [[WideOpenSandbox absolute freedom of movement]] and a metric ton of diverse {{side quest}}s.
** The ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'' series, meanwhile, codified the PlayerParty-based [=RPGs=] whose main appeal are the [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits quirky teammates]] and the story that presents a ton of [[KarmaMeter moral choices]] but remains ultimately linear.
* ''DeadRising'' is most likely the codifier for the whole popular "zombie apocalypse from the inside of a mall" trope, even though it was released as recently as 2006. It has been done many time since, notably by ''Videogame/{{Left 4 Dead 2}}'' (released 2009), with the second half of its "Dead Center" campaign, which takes place entirely in a mall. This was most likely an intentional parody of Dead Rising, as Valve has made references to Dead Rising before, like how Dead Rising had an achievement called "Zombie Genocider" which required you to kill 53,594 zombies, and ''Videogame/{{Left 4 Dead}}'' (2008) featured an achievement called "Zombie Genocidist" which required you to kill 53,59''5'' zombies, upping it by exactly one.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Web Original]]
* {{Wikipedia}} is an encyclopedia, and so influential that [[TheWikiRule few wikis exist that aren't, functionally, specialized encyclopedias]] rather than, say, community projects or collections of cross-referenced essays. The most obvious counterexample, EverythingTwo, predates Wikipedia.
* While not the first VideoReviewShow, ''WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd'' popularized the format.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]
* TexAvery, particularly in his short ''RedHotRidingHood'', codified the WildTake.
* ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail'' codified the AwardBaitSong, which even spread into live action works.
* {{ComicStrip/Popeye}}'s spinach is the codifier for PowerUpFood.
* ''TheRenAndStimpyShow'' codified the GrossUpCloseUp and the GrossoutShow.
* WallaceAndGromit codified SilentSnarker. Seriously.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Other]]
* ''Literature/DigitalDevilStory'' codified the MegaTen metaseries, providing the original source material that eventually set the rules for all {{Mons}}.
* An earlier work by WilliamGibson [[TropeNamer coined]] the term "{{Cyberspace}}". Both ''{{Neuromancer}}'' and ''{{Tron}}'' set the standards for what we think of it.
* Acorn Computers' Arthur OS had the Ur-Example. NEXTSTEP had the original and the user-interface trope namer. But if you've got a dock in your operating system, the OS you're inevitably accused of copying is Apple's Mac OSX. So of course it's also OlderThanTheyThink.
* For graphical interface conventions in general (mice, menus, windows, etc.), the Ur-Example was Xerox PARC's groundbreaking research of the '60s and '70s, which never turned into commercial products on their part, but was [[JustForPun Xeroxed]] by Apple (the Trope Maker) as the basis for its Macintosh interface, and then ripped off (and made even more popular and mainstream) by Microsoft in Windows, the Trope Codifier.
* Fortune teller characters nowadays will likely take some influence from Miss Cleo. This results in {{Roma}}nians with Jamaican accents.
* Clarence Darrow's defense of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_and_Loeb Leopold and Loeb]] was the codifier for SocietyIsToBlame
* James Watt didn't invent the first stationary steam engine, and George and Robert Stephenson didn't invent the first steam locomotive. But their versions were so much more efficient than previous ones that [[OlderThanTheyThink they are often credited as the inventors]].
* Former Israeli prime minister Golda Meir is believed to be the first person to utter the "even a paranoid can have enemies" line so often used in reference to ProperlyParanoid characters.
[[/folder]]
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