The TVTropes Trope Finder is where you can come to ask questions like "Do we have this one?" and "What's the trope about...?" Trying to rediscover a long lost show or other medium but need a little help? Head to Media Finder and try your luck there. Want to propose a new trope? You should be over at You Know, That Thing Where.
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openNot real jewels
Is there a trope for when an item is thought to be valuable only for it to turn out to be worthless?
For example, a diamond-encrusted belt buckle is revealed to be covered in plastic diamonds and not real ones.
openDefeat by Heroism
A villain is on the verge being defeated or caught by the hero so the villain starts firing missiles at bystanders or sends a Bus Full of Innocents teetering on the edge of a cliff so the hero has to go save the bystanders/innocents and leaves the hero open for attack or make time for the villain to make a clean getaway
openKirk punch
I feel like I've seen a trope for when a character strikes another by interweaving the fingers on both hands and performing a downward blow, the way Captain Kirk regularly did on Star Trek. I can't remember what the trope was called, though. Can anyone help?
openDown To Earth God
Deity or otherwise higher being just openly chilling amongst the mortals.
openSelectable gender Videogame
You get to choose whether the player character is male or female
openStill Waiting For Adulthood
A character who is legally an adult feels they definitely can't be entrusted with adult responsibilities yet. Not Manchild because they're making an effort to act their age, but basically constantly comparing themselves to their parents' generation and feel they come up short. Can be played for drama or comedy.
openYou Kinda Did Have It Coming
A plot where someone is victimized and people near them feel the attacker wasn't entirely unjustified. Not straight-up Asshole Victim since the victim is still presented sympathetically.
Something like this:
- Bob: And then this lunatic comes up out of nowhere and punches me in the mouth!Alice: Did he say why?Bob: Yeah! I don't know how he learned I worked on the Mario Kart AI back in the day.Alice: That was you!? You're the reason the AI always gets blue shells and gangs up on the player!?Bob: Partly?Alice: Well I can certainly see why he'd want to punch you in the mouth until something breaks. Did you call the cops?
opencharacter quotes literature or something
A character quotes literature or something. It'd be a supertrope to As the Good Book Says..., and also Stock Quotes, I think. Unlike Stock Quotes, the quote is not necessarily, well, stock.
openLong trip home Live Action TV
So, in a TV show, the characters travel to a faraway place and get up to shenanigans and stuff. When all that is over with and they have to travel home, it's found that they transport is damaged and they have to basically coast until they reach someplace to make repairs. Thus, the cast is bored out of their minds looking for something to do. What would the trope for that be?
openDon't pity the badguy
Is there a trope for when a bad person getting some punishment or misfortune they completely deserve, another person expresses pity for them, and their friend/mentor/whatever is disgusted and asks how they can feel that way?
openDenying One Claim, then Confirming It with Different Details
Is there a trope in which a character is accused of something, and they respond along the lines of "Of course not, I did that thing differently." Here is an example:
Character 1: "Admit it, you stole those cookies this morning!"
Character 2: "I did not! I stole them last night."
If the trope is on this site, could you please tell me the name? I'd appreciate it.
Edited by OnerousCaprineopenHumiliation by infantilising
Is there a trope for when an adult (not necessarily a parent) talks to a teenager or older child in a way that sounds like they're addressing a younger child? Examples would be: "Ah, you're eating up all your dinner, like good children" said to teenagers; "Do you want to go in the babies' class?"
openWhat do you call those tanks of water people are kept in to develop?
I swear I've seen this trope's page or name before but I can't put my finger on how to actually describe it out better than I have in the title.
Putting "water tank" into the search bar, People Jars may be the closest thing to what I can think of, but I'm not too certain it's exactly what I'm looking for.
Here's a video example. Context: This alien dude named Ejo Jo is being hospitalised and enhanced inside this tank of water whatchamacallit. Once Bago Go pushes some buttons which causes more bubbles to appear in the water, Ejo Jo's eyes open and he punches the glass to free himself.
openFake Shemp First
So, if a character is brought back for a brief appearance and their face is obscured because the actor wasn't available, that's Fake Shemp.
Do we have a trope for when a character's first appearance is brief and done with an obscured face because the actor who will play them in their main appearance hasn't been cast yet?
I've seen this done with films where a character's being set up for a larger role in the sequel (e.g. in Ant-Man Janet van Dyne appears only in a flashback and a family photo, with her face hidden; in Sherlock Holmes (2009) Professor Moriarty appears only briefly and hidden in shadow) and in TV series where a character exists in the story mysteriously for a while before getting a face reveal (e.g. Heroes, where the season one Big Bad only made brief shadowy appearances for the first half of the season until they cast the actor who would play him for the rest of the series).
openConcentration blindfold
A character covers their eyes when using psychic or magical abilities. El in Stranger Things often does this.
Edited by MysteriumopenCreator themself speaks to player Videogame
It isn't necessarily Breaking the Fourth Wall; it can be merely a small message box suddenly popping up "from the creator himself" to the person playing the very game as they stumble upon a certain checkpoint.
Edited by Monolaf317
I am trying to find a trope that fits the song “Beautiful Creatures” from the movie Rio 2 (a song that celebrates Jewel finding her tribe again after being separated from them due to illegal loggers). So I want to ask this is there a trope about about a type of song that celebrates a character’s return after being gone for so long?
Edited by Pokemon439