What's Your Favorite Trope?

We have a thread for pet peeve tropes, so how about a little positivity? Apologies ahead of time if this has been done before.

For instance, I've become partial to stories that use the Mind Screw trope. I personally find it a very exhilarating sort of "natural high" to wade into incomprehensibility in fiction, and I think Grant Morrison may be my favorite writer of anything. Even though I'm not religious, I even dipped into an online Bible once so I could read the Book of Revelation, purely to get my mind screwed.

Of course, I'm pretty sure it's possible to use Mind Screw badly. There are probably plenty of writers out there who aim for a brain-wracking story and just end up with... nonsense. I'm fortunate, however, not to have run across any of these. Yet.

edited 13th Jul '12 1:08:10 PM by HamburgerTime

It Amused Me,...especially when combined Ax-Crazy I just love characters that do whatever the hell they want.

For whatever reason, I love seeing a well-done instance of Mugging the Monster, particularly when it is laced with as much Dramatic Irony as possible.

Bigotry will NEVER be welcome on TV Tropes.

I like a well-done Mind Screw or Ontological Mystery, as well as Rule of Fun, Viewers Are Geniuses and Shown Their Work, if used with some subtlety.

Hang on, I will be back once I'm done compiling...

I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.

Necrouble Post.

• Kill Sat - It is hard to make this not awesome.
• Earn Your Happy Ending

I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.

I'm partial to Breaking the Fourth Wall. Gratuitous English is also a guilty pleasure of mine.

I love The Ditz. There just so much fun. Like Luna Lovegood, or Derpy Hooves.

They do have medals for almost, and they're called silver!

Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy, for whatever reason.

I love Black Comedy.

I'm also partial to Like an Old Married Couple for some reason.

I love well-done uses of EldritchAbominations, especially HumanoidAbominations. Making reference to mythology (e.g. The Fair Folk) is a bonus, as is the exploration of Blue-and-Orange Morality.

On the other end, I like Earn Your Happy Ending and such things- settings where yes, shit sucks, but you CAN make it better.

I also love Genius Bruiser and Badass Bookworm as character archetypes.

edited 24th Sep '12 9:07:17 AM by Exelixi

Mura: -flips the bird to veterinary science with one hand and Euclidean geometry with the other-

Of all time? Probably Xanatos Gambit. It doesn't matter who pulled it, I just love it when a character wins through that kind of thing. Guile Heroes are best heroes.

Gimme yer lunch money, dweeb.

I am quite fond of a well-placed Oh, Crap!.

Panhandling sign glued to hands. Need $5 for solvent.

Seconded.

I'm quite fond of Gallows Humour as well.

Blood Knights and The Chessmaster

edited 24th Sep '12 12:20:27 PM by Olivetree

"You'd never do something as irrational as dying."

"The Reason You Suck" Speech and Shut Up, Hannibal!. It's so much fun giving these to characters who deserve it!

Oh, Equestria, we stand on guard for thee!

Same.

I really love tropes about things that aren't what they seem.

But my favorite trope is probably Let's Get Dangerous!

edited 24th Sep '12 2:17:18 PM by Matues

I love me a good Woolseyism.

Lock-and-Load Montage

It's a cliche, but it's a cool cliche.

Complete Monster.

Love em' to bits.

edited 25th Sep '12 3:55:28 AM by TopographicOcean

YUUGI WANTS YOU FOR DRINKING BUDDY

Curb-Stomp Battle

I just love something getting the shit kicked out of it.

If you wanna PM me, send it to my mrsunshinesprinkles account; this one is blorked.

Off the top of my head, I'd say Meganekko, Hartman Hips, and Clothing Damage, but for different reasons than most others listed in this thread.

From a storytelling perspective, I really like The Determinator (especially during a Curb-Stomp Battle), and the Unlikely Hero.

Weird in a Can (updated M-F)

Superlative Dubbing, subjective as it is.

Determinator, I love characters*

who just don't give up.

Heroic Sacrifice, instant Tear Jerker even if I don't know or even dislike the character doing it.

edited 25th Sep '12 2:08:37 PM by Vyctorian

Rarely active, try DA/Tumblr Avatar by pippanaffie.deviantart.com

I like indy ploy,hilarity ensues, and runnning gags.

I like a mix of guile hero and comedy, in general.

edited 26th Sep '12 8:22:38 AM by skarl