Sometimes, GenreSavvy characters talk about tropes. There are at least three kinds of such discussions:

* They [[InvokedTrope invoke]] the trope directly, either by action ("I'll make my sword more powerful by [[PowerGlows making it brighter]]!") or by anticipation ("His sword is [[PowerGlows glowing]], I suppose that means it's very powerful").
* They're just talking about tropes, apropos of nothing, in which case you have ConversationalTroping.
* And then there's the discussions that go something like, "If this were an action movie, talking [[TemptingFate about your family like that]] would mean you'd be [[SortingAlgorithmOfMortality dead in a few minutes]]." or "[[ThisIsReality Unlike]] what you may read in detective stories, [[TheButlerDidIt the Butler is a somewhat unlikely suspect]] in any murder investigation of [[LockedRoomMystery this sort]], for reasons X, Y and Z."

This trope covers that third category, where a trope is brought up by the characters, and is directly relevant to the situation at hand, but is not taken necessarily as TruthInTelevision.

This kind of conversation is used to set up either a [[JustifiedTrope justification]] (Invoked Tropes normally just sort of assume the trope is Truth in Television), a [[AvertedTrope fully noted aversion]], some variety of [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction]] or a way of [[LampshadeHanging hanging a lampshade]].

Distinct from ConversationalTroping in that a Discussed Trope will have some relevance to the situation at hand, and distinct from an InvokedTrope in that an Invoked Trope is always either played straight or expected by at least one character to be played straight.

See also ThisIsReality, which this trope generally invokes.
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!!Examples

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[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

* ''SuzumiyaHaruhi'' - Since the eponymous character is [[spoiler:a GenreSavvy RealityWarper]] without her knowledge, ThisIsReality [[SkepticismFailure never occurs.]]
* In the ''FullMetalAlchemist'' manga, Colonel Mustang points out to Lt. Hughes that if he was in a war story, talking so much about how much he misses his family, while on the battlefield, would be a [[RetIrony surefire way to get killed]].
** Especially ironic because [[spoiler:Lt. Hughes falls victim to that very same trope. Apparently it's not just on the battlefield.]]

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[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* Used brutally in ''BlackOrchid''--the title character is captured by a {{Mook}}, who discusses WhyDontYaJustShootHim. He [[DecoyProtagonist shoots her in the head]], then [[KillItWithFire sets her on fire]] to make absolutely sure she's DeaderThanDead. Good thing MesACrowd . . .

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[[folder: Literature ]]

* The ''LordPeterWimsey'' stories tended to feature dialogue in which somebody discussing "If this were a mystery story..."
** Particulalry common when his LoveInterest Harriet Vane is present, as she ''is'' a writer of mystery stories.
* Sam Vimes' Genre Savvy discussion of Clues in various ''{{Discworld}}'' books is another good literary example.
** Discworld and {{Discussed Trope}}s go together like dwarves and gold. In ''Discworld/{{Sourcery}}'', an EvilChancellor actually SAYS of some evil action he is undertaking, "I am the Vizier after all. It is rather expected of me."
* The ''BlackJewels'' book, Tangled Webs, by Anne Bishop has a couple of examples, mainly because the villain is a hack author. Two characters who had been making fun of the author's cliché-ridden writing are trapped in a house that's trying to kill them while the author watches from inside the walls and records it all as fodder for his next book. At one point, the characters comment that in a horror story, this is exactly when one of them would be stupid enough to go into the cellar. As they're saying this, the cellar door slams shut of its own accord--if they had gone down the stairs, they would have been trapped. Later in the book, the (gay) male main character remarks to the female main character that this is the point in the story where they're supposed to have sex. They look at each other for a moment, and then the woman says, "So what do you want to do in the five minutes that would have taken?"

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[[folder: Webcomics ]]

* [[http://buttersafe.com/2008/11/06/at-school-no-clothes/ This episode]] of ''Buttersafe'', in which a boy without pants struggles to work out if the NotWearingPants trope is being {{subverted}}, DoubleSubverted or played straight.

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[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* In an episode of ''TheBatman'', Alfred worries that "This time, the butler may indeed have done it" in relation to a series of robberies from the Wayne household. Funny thing is? He ''did'' do it, under hypnosis. That was discovered quite quickly.
* ''{{Animorphs}}'' used these more than average. Especially common are references to the tropes of StarTrek--things like RubberForeheadAliens (not used in Animorphs), or FrickinLaserBeams (which is used).
* TheSimpsons:
-->'''Homer''':''"If this were a cartoon, the rock would break off now..."''
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