In short,
tropes which have
Wikipedia articles. In long:
Here on
TV Tropes, we tropers dedicate ourselves to cataloging recurrent patterns in fiction. Everyone knows that; it's the name of the game. Other sites deal with
tropes, too, though none of them are as exhaustive as
TV Tropes, which is perfectly normal. However, there's
one site that takes it too far: it's supposed to be a free world-class encyclopedia, yet it's wasting time talking on and on about
cliches in fiction. And that's
our job. Isn't that a waste of bandwidth? Perhaps so, but the practice is a lot more common than non-tropers would think.
The truth of the matter is Wikipedians do it for a variety of reasons—the
trope may be common enough for scholarly interest, it may say something about psychology, it may be as much a real world phenomenon as an element used in fiction, or it may simply just be one of those many
Silly Things
Wikipedia does. On the other hand, it might also be because
TV Tropes has fallen victim to the
Law Of Wiki Expansion, and the topic really is one that best fits in a general-interest encyclopedia. In any case, it's beneficial to
TV Tropes; the more pages on
tropes there are on
Wikipedia, the more people will be led to our site.
Not to be confused with
You Are Not Alone, or the
idea of other intelligent life in the galaxy.
Examples — any examples with an asterisk has the exact same name as our trope
- 2½D [1]*
- Absent-Minded Professor [2]*
- Acquired Poison Immunity: Mithridatism
- Acronym and Abbreviation Overload: WTF? OMG! TMD TLA. ARG!
- Action Hero: [3]*
- A Fool and His New Money Are Soon Parted: Sudden wealth syndrome
- Alien Autopsy [4]*
- Alien Space Bats [5]*
- Allegory [6] *
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Hybristophilia
- Alpha Bitch: Queen Bee (subculture)
- An Aesop: Moral
- Anal Probing [7]*
- Anime Fan Speak: Glossary of anime and manga
- Antagonist [8]*
- Anthropomorphic Personification: Anthropomorphism
- Antihero [9]*
- Arcadia [10] *
- Arch-Enemy [11]*
- Artificial Stupidity [12]*
- The Backwards R: Faux Cyrillic
- Badass: Hotshot (stock character)
- Bag of Holding: Magic satchel
- Bathos [13]*
- Bed Trick [14]*
- The Bermuda Triangle [15]*
- Big Bad [16]* (They even link to the trope)
- Big Dumb Object [17]* (They link back to us!)
- Big Name Fan [18]
- Binary Suns: Binary star
- Black Box: [19] *
- Black Knight: [20]*
- Blank Slate: Tabula rasa
- Bluebird Of Happiness: [21] *
- Bothering by the Book: Work-to-rule
- Box Office Bomb: [22] *
- Brain in a Jar: Brain in a vat
- Brand Name Takeover: Generic trademark
- British Royal Guards: Queen's Guard
- Byronic Hero [23]*
- Bystander Syndrome: Bystander effect
- The Caper: Caper story
- Cassandra Truth: [24]
- Changeling Tale: Changeling
- Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys: [25] *
- Cheesy Moon: The moon is made of green cheese
- Chekhov's Gun [26]*
- Chewbacca Defense [27]*
- Chiaroscuro [28] *
- Child Soldiers: Military Use Of Children
- Clip Show [29]*
- Comic Book Time: Floating timeline
- Coming of Age Story [30] * Also Bildungsroman
- Commie Nazis: Red fascism
- Conspicuous Consumption: [31]*
- Cosmic Egg: World egg
- Courtly Love: [32]
- Crazy Cat Lady: Cat Lady
- Cure Your Gays: Ex-gay movement
- Damsel in Distress: [33]*
- Dead Air: [34] *
- "Dear John" Letter: [35]*
- Deus ex Machina: [36]*
- Decoy Protagonist: False protagonist
- Deflector Shield: [37]*
- Deuteragonist: [38]*
- Development Hell: [39]* (Again, they link back)
- A Dog Ate My Homework: [40] (They use us as a source)
- Double Entendre [41]*
- Dragons Prefer Princesses: Princess and Dragon*
- Droste Image: [42]
- Dumb Blonde: Blonde Stereotype (The second aspect of the two)
- Dutch Angle: [43]*
- Dynamic Difficulty: Dynamic game difficulty balancing
- Dyson Sphere [44]*
- Earworm [45]*
- Elephant in the Living Room: Elephant in the room
- Empty Nest; Empty nest syndrome
- Everyone Loves Blondes: Blonde Stereotype (The first aspect of the two)
- The Everyman [46]*
- Everything's Worse with Snowclones: Snowclone
- Evil Eye [47]*
- Evil Laugh [48]*
- Evil Overlord: Dark Lord (fiction)
- Evil Twin [49]*
- Face Framed In Shadow Rembrandt lighting
- Fairy Godmother: [50]*
- Fake Shemp [51]*
- Fanservice [52]*
- Farts on Fire: Fart lighting
- Femme Fatale [53]*
- Fictional Political Party: List of Fictional Political Parties
- Field Promotion: Brevet (military) and Battlefield promotion
- Final Girl: [54]*
- Fisher King: Wasteland (mythology)
- Five Finger Fillet: Knife game
- Florence Nightingale Effect: [55]*
- Foreshadowing: [56]*
- Four is Death: Tetraphobia
- Freaky Friday Flip: [57]
- Freemium: [58]*
- Freudian Slip: [59]*
- Frivolous Lawsuit: Frivolous litigation
- The Gadfly: Social gadfly
- Gallows Humor: [60]*
- Gameplay and Story Segregation: Ludonarrative (specifically the concept of "ludonarrative dissonance")
- Gaslamp Fantasy: [61]*
- Gaslighting: [62]*
- Geisha: [63]*
- Gentleman Detective [64]*
- Gentleman Thief [65]*
- The Ghost: Unseen character
- GIFT: Online disinhibition effect
- Girl Next Door: [66]*
- Girly Girl: [67]*
- Goroawase Number: Japanese wordplay
- Green-Eyed Monster Jealousy and Envy
- Greek Chorus [68]*
- Hammerspace: [69]*
- Hand Waving: [70]*
- The Hard Hat: [71]*
- Harsh Vocals: Death Growl (but the intro lists harsh vocals as a variant)
- Hazmat Suit: [72]*
- Heaven [73] *
- Heavenly Blue Blue -- In Religion
- Heävy Mëtal Ümlaut: Metal umlaut
- Hell [74] *
- The Hecate Sisters: Triple Goddess (Neopaganism)
- Here There Be Dragons: Here be dragons
- The Hero [75]*
- Hime Cut [76]*
- Hipster: [77]*
- Hitler's Time Travel Exemption Act Hitler's murder paradox
- Honest Axe: The Honest Woodman
- Honey Trap: Honeypots in espionage fiction
- Hooker with a Heart of Gold: [78]*
- House Husband: Stay-at-home-dad
- House Wife: [79]*
- Idiot Plot: [80]*
- I'm a Humanitarian: Cannibalism in popular culture
- The Ingenue: [81]*
- The Principle of Evil Marksmanship covers these three tropes:
- Indian Summer [82]*
- Inherently Funny Words [83]*
- Isometric Projection [84]*
- Jesus The Early Years Lost years of Jesus
- Jewish Mother: Jewish mother stereotype
- Jumping the Shark [85]*
- Jungle Princess: Jungle Girl (stock character)
- Kaiju [86]*
- Kansas City Shuffle [87] *
- Kawaisa: [88]*
- Kill the God: Deicide
- King in the Mountain [89]*
- Knight Errant [90]*
- Kraken And Leviathan [91] and [92]
- Just Following Orders Superior orders
- Leitmotif [93]*
- Leonine Contract: [94]
- Lite Creme: Sensational spelling
- Loose Lips: Loose lips sink ships as well as Wikipedia is in the real world
- Loudness War: [95]*
- Lovable Rogue [96]*
- Love Triangle [97] *
- Lumper Vs Splitter: Lumpers and splitters
- MacGuffin [98]*
- Mad Scientist [99]*
- Magic Carpet [100]*
- Magical Girlfriend [101]*
- Magical Negro [102]*
- Magical Seventh Son: Seventh son of a seventh son
- Magnum Opus [103]*
- Mammy [104]
- Man-Eating Plant: Carnivorous plants: Cultural depictions and Man-eating tree
- Manic Pixie Dream Girl [105]*
- Mary Sue [106]*
- Meaningful Name: Aptronym
- Meet Cute: [107]*
- Meganekko: Glasses Fetishism
- Meme [108]*
- The Messiah/Messianic Archetype Christ Figure
- Metal Scream: Screaming (music)
- Mexican Standoff: [109]*
- Microtransactions [110]*
- Mile-High Club [111]*
- Miles Gloriosus Alazon
- Min-Maxing [112]*
- Miranda Rights: Miranda warning
- Missing White Woman Syndrome: [113]*
- The Mistress: [114]
- Moe: Moe (slang)*
- Moe Anthropomorphism [115]*
- Mondegreen [116]*
- Money to Burn: Money burning*
- Monkeys on a Typewriter: Infinite monkey theorem, Infinite monkey theorem in popular culture
- Monster Clown: Evil clown*=
* MortonsFork [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morton%27s_fork]] [=*
- Most Tropers Are Young Nerds: Wikipedia:Systemic bias, much more of a problem there than here
- Munchkin: Munchkin (role-playing games)*
- The Mutiny: [117] *
- Nails on a Blackboard [118]
- Nazi Hunter [119]*
- Necromancer: Necromancy (with a link to TV Tropes)
- Network Decay: Channel drift
- Nerd: [120]*
- New Wave Science Fiction: [121] *
- Nice Jewish Boy [122]*
- Noble Savage [123]*
- Nose Art [124]*
- Nostalgia Filter: Rosy retrospection
- No True Scotsman [125]*
- Nouveau Riche: [126]*, see also Parvenu
- Obfuscating Insanity: Feigned madness
- The Obi-Wan: Wise Old Man
- Occult Detective: Occult detective fiction
- Old Maid: Spinster
- Old Master: Elderly Martial Arts Master
- On A Scale From One To Ten: Scale of one to ten
- One Episode Wonder List of television series canceled after one episode
- One Hit Wonder [127]*
- The Oner Long take
- Opinion Myopia: False consensus effect
- Outlaw [128], see also Outlaw (stock character) for a list of outlaws in folklore.*
- Panacea [129] *
- The Pardon [130] *
- Parody Commercial [131]*
- Patchwork Story: Fix-up
- Peerless Love Interest: Princesse Lointaine
- People's Republic of Tyranny: People's Republic
- Percussive Maintenance [132]*
- Pink Elephants Seeing pink elephants
- Pirate Booty: Buried Treasure
- Plot Device [133]* (With reverse-link back to TV Tropes)
- Plot Hole [134]*
- Plot Twist [135]*
- Portable Hole: [136]*
- Pothole: Piped links
- Powered Armor: Powered exoskeleton
- President For Life [137]*
- Prince Charming: [138]*
- Prison Ship [139]*
- Protest Song [140]*
- The Protagonist [141]*
- Psychopomp: [142] *
- Pun: [143]*
- Pyrrhic Victory: [144]*, also Cadmean victory which is virtually the same.
- Quackwatch: [145]*, also Stephen Barrett, its creator
- The Quisling: [146]* (not to be confused with their page on the person himself)
- Rags to Riches: [147]*
- Ray Gun: [148]*
- Raygun Gothic [149]*
- Reality Retcon: Secret history
- Really Gets Around: Slut
- Red Herring [150]*
- Redshirt [151]*
- Ring of Power: Magic ring
- Robinsonade [152]*
- Rules Lawyer [153]*
- Running Gag [154]
- Ruritania: [155]*, also Ruritanian romance for the related genre
- Sacred Cow: Sacred cow (idiom)
- Sampling: [156]
- Saw A Woman In Half [157]*
- Scandalgate: List of scandals with "-gate" suffix
- Scatting: Scatting* and Non-lexible vocables in music
- Scary Black Man: Black Brute
- Schrödinger's Cat: Schrödinger's cat in popular culture
- Scullery Maid [158]*
- Scunthorpe Problem [159]*
- Screwed by the Lawyers (Tragedy of the anticommons; also applies to patent law, land ownership, leasing issues, etc.)
- Sdrawkcab Name (Ananym)
- Sea Monster [160]*
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy [161]*
- Self Immolation [162]*
- Seven Dirty Words [163]*
- Shaggy Dog Story [164]*
- Shark Tunnel [165]*
- Shipping [166]*
- Shout Out Allusion
- Sidekick [167]*
- Signature Song [168]*
- Sinkhole: Easter egg links
- Situational Sexuality: Situational sexual behavior
- Sleeper Hit: [169]*
- Snipe Hunt [170]*
- Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome [171]*
- Sock Puppet: [172]*
- Solar Powered Magnifying Glass: Burning glass
- Southern Belle: [173]*
- Space Pirates: [174]*
- Spear Carrier: [175]*
- Speech Bubbles: Speech balloon, whose forerunner was the speech scroll
- Spinning Paper: Spinning newspaper
- Spontaneous Human Combustion [176]*
- Starcrossed Lovers: Star-crossed
- Stock Character [177]*
- Straight Gay: Straight-acting
- Streisand Effect: Streisand effect*
- Strictly Formula: Formula fiction
- Supercouple [178]*
- Superhero [179]*
- Supervillain [180]*
- Suspend Save [181]
- Synchro Vox [182]*
- Sweeps Week Lesbian Kiss: Lesbian kiss episode
- Switched at Birth [183]
- Taken for Granite: Petrifaction in mythology and fiction
- Tall Poppy Syndrome [184]*
- Tastes Like Chicken [185]*
- The Tetris Effect [186]*
- The Thirty-Six Stratagems [187]*
- This Is a Work of Fiction: All persons fictitious disclaimer
- Tickle Torture [188]*
- Tin Can Telephone [189]*
- Tomboy [190]*
- Tontine [191]*
- The Tourney [192]
- Tsundere [193]*
- Tuckerization [194]*
- Turtle Island: Aspidochelone
- Tyrannosaurus rex: Tyrannosaurus
- Unconventional Formatting: Ergodic literature (although our definition is much more broad)
- Unobtainium [195]*
- Unreliable Narrator [196]*
- Up to Eleven [197]
- Valley Girl: [198]*
- Vaporware [199]*
- Very Special Episode [200]*
- Video Phone [201]*
- Villain [202]*
- Visual Pun [203]* (They link to this trope)
- Walk and Talk [204]*
- Walk This Way [205]*
- The War on Straw [206]
- Wet Sari Scene [207]*
- What Measure Is a Non-Cute?: Bambi effect
- White Stallion: White horse (mythology)
- Who Will Bell the Cat? [208]
- Wick: What links here
- Wicked Stepmother: Stepmothers in fiction
- The Wild Hunt [209] *
- William Telling: Shooting an apple off one's child's head
- Willing Suspension of Disbelief: Suspension of disbelief
- Word Schmord: Shm-reduplication
- World Building [210]*
- Wound That Will Not Heal: Dolorous Stroke
- Yamato Nadeshiko [211]*
- Youngest Child Wins: Youngest son
- Zapped: Criteria for speedy deletion
- Zero-G Spot: Sex in space
