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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openThis plot was useless
A being of massive power selects a number of characters and makes them fight each other in a tournament style: a vs. b, c vs. d, first victor vs. second victor, etc. The final victor will receive a massive power boost.
However, when the story ends, and the last tiers are about to be resolved and the champion decided, this being selects the winner: one of the losers that were defeated in the first round. Which makes it seem as if the whole tournament was pointless and a waste of everyone's time.
openThe Lost Lenore (for non-romantic situations)
Is there a non-romantic equivalent of The Lost Lenore? We're talking about scenarios where the dead character has a massive impact on the story through certain characters or even many. We could be talking about a dead sibling, a dead friend, a dead parent, a dead co-worker. Hell, even a dead rival. Someone who becomes The Lost Lenore for a character, but in a non-romantic way.
At the moment, the specific example I'm thinking of is a dead mother.
Edited by WyldchyldopenAn organization that seems like they're everywhere Anime
An organization that has a lot of fingers in pies so to speak. While they aren't your classic definition of "evil" or "good" per say. They have people closely involved everywhere whether that be a popular music star, powerful underworld bosses, famous scientists, doctors, and cooks.
open"You must earn this power"
"I could give you this artifact but it won't be as strong as if you earned it."
openAce Destructive
An ace hired specifically for their destructive talents. Typically an anti-hero.
openTheir Approval SHOULD Fill You With Shame
Bob believes (rightly or wrongly, depending on the point the author's making) that he isn't responsible for the extremist actions of people who happen to share his views. Other characters disagree, and use those actions as an argument against Bob's views.
- Bob is a vocal defender of the right to own guns. When a school shooting happens a few blocks away from his workplace, his (pro-strict gun control) coworkers snidely ask why he looks horrified at the news instead of elated at finding someone who clearly shares Bob's views on gun ownership.
- Bob is a Shock Jock who regularly spouts racist tirades to attract controversy and therefore keep his ratings high. When a hate crime is committed with Bob's show cited as a direct influence (including the killer stating he did it to be interviewed on Bob's show), Bob holds himself innocent of any wrongdoing.
- Bob is a screenwriter who makes one of the characters (Charlie) a violent He-Man Woman Hater. Most of the fanmail comes from creepy men who use this character as an Audience Surrogate and get quite graphic in what they want to see Charlie do to women. Bob ignores the fanmail, but his fellow writers argue Charlie should get less screentime or even be written out entirely.
openEnemy weapon
Shaman King: Hao Asakura used Spirit of Fire to kill Lyserg's parents. At the end of the series, Lyserg uses Spirit of Fire to fight Hao as Hao got rid of Spirit of Fire and uses The Great Spirit instead.
openBig chin / mouth too high
Is there a trope for overal art style of characters with big chins? But not Lantern Jaw of Justice or Thin Chin of Sin. Basically it is just the mouth being positioned rather high on the face making the jaw look quite prominent.
Some anime have such art style e.g. AIR or The Promised Neverland. And I'm certain I've seen it in some western works too.
Edited by sohibilopenA Specific Trope Name If One Exists Live Action TV
Hi there, spoilers are mentioned in this post. So you have been warned.
What is it called in a meta sense when a certain actor appears in an episode of a show and get killed by a regular character?
The example I give is Criminal Minds: S 11 E 15 - "A Badge And A Gun". When the Unsub played by Carmine Giovinazzo gets his comeuppance by A.J. Cook. So the name of the trope I'm searching for applies to the following sentence: "Danny Messer got shot by Jennifer Jareau."
openSecond Appearance Retcon
A trope similar to Lazy Artist but done out of pragmatism rather than laziness/ineptitude where a distinctive character trait disappears in their second appearance.
In this case, a comics artist introduces a new character with a complicated and distinctive visual element (facial tattoo, riding a motorcycle, multi-fingered hands, etc.). The artist realizes the visual element doubles the time spent per panel whenever it appears, and gets rid of it at first opportunity, so that they appear without it on their second appearance forward (sometimes without even an explanation), even if the character's personality/interactions with others is radically altered (the Proud Warrior Race Guy's kill-count tattoo is removed without comment, the Biker Chick becomes a Shrinking Violet, the pianist can still play pieces designed for 11+ fingers, etc.).
Analogous problems in other other media: Character always speaks in rhyme, has special effects added to them in post-production, parts of their outfit keep clipping through walls, etc.
openFictional country coexistence
Is there a trope like Expy Coexistence but for a Fictional Country coexisting with a Real Life one, e.g. Republic of Ireland and Talamdis (southern land in Irish) coexisting together in a work, other than Fictional Country?
I wasn't sure if Earth Drift or Like Reality, Unless Noted fit, surely there is a trope for that?
openTornado Hands
Basically, it’s an attack where you vibrate your hands so fast and so hard (usually in circles) that you end up creating wind funnels/tornados out of them. Also known as “tornado hands” or “tornado fist” or “hurricane hands” or a variant of the like. It’s usually used by either speedsters or people with wind powers.
openKiss the Cook
Do we have a trope for this? It seems like whenever someone decides to wear an apron in the kitchen or at a BBQ, they wear one that says "Kiss the Cook" or some variation of it.
openI need help with two tropes
Spoilers for The Danger and the Damage (an Ace Attorney fanfic):
- Kristoph seeks to undo Phoenix's legacy, both by murdering Nick and forcing Miles to get Matt Engarde's sentence massively reduced (since Engarde is a heinous killer who Nick sent to jail for a long time). This will also tarnish Miles' reputation by coercing him into a deal with a criminal. What would this fall under?
- Kristoph and Engarde collude to make Miles fly all the way to San Quentin prison for information on Nick's whereabouts, when Nick is actually back at Gourd Lake, a considerable distance from San Quentin. There is a possibility that this completely unnecessary distance (to obtain necessary info) might turn into You Are Too Late to save Phoenix. I don't think this is a Wild Goose Chase...
Edited by annieholmesopenA trope for a kind of abstract "horror" trope
One of my examples for the trope includes spoilers for attack on titan anime up to season 3 or so. So if there's a spoiler tag that's why.
While the trope doesn't actually have to be presented as scary the trope is kind of a disturbing and at the very least unsettling as a concept. The best way I can describe it as "when an object or task that is somewhat ordinary is created/achieved through unsettling, abstract, and unconventional use of an object that is typically alive (a person/animal)." The idea I'm trying convey is very similar to biomechanical horror where people and machines are fused but different and more abstract. An important distinction on how the trope is more abstract is because there isn't supposed to be that much of a conventional link between the object and the thing it accomplishes. While in biomechanical horror there is often a conventional like between the person and machine because they're fused so the machine can think. Another difference between biomechanical horror is that it doesn't have to be strictly related to machines and could be anything really. I'm sorry if I could be using a better genre to describe it and if there is a better genre please let me know.
Examples I could remember, unfortunately I can only think of a couple. Also unfortunately the attack on titan example is the strongest and most accurate so I'll just go ahead and say it. A great example from attack on titan is how the walls are made of titans that have hardened into a wall and are still living inside of it. This is a good example because there's no correlation between living things and a huge incredibly sturdy smooth wall. If I proposed the idea of a giant, hard, smooth wall made out of living things you would find that absurd which is why this is hard to describe because this trope is abstract by nature. Btw please don't spoil anything related to aot past the anime below as I'm anime only rn.
Second example is from the 10th episode of season 1 of rick and morty. The example here is a giant wall with an absurd amount of restrained mortys being pricked in the stomach over and over because the brain waves produced by mortys in pain are excellent at concealing the brain waves of a rick. This wasn't presented in way of horror in the show which is why the trope doesn't need to be scary but the concept of it is disturbing. This example isn't as strong but kind of conveys the idea.
Third example is from the Ouroboros cycle scp 01 which I never actually read that much of but that doesn't matter because I'm not concerned about the narrative aspect of this trope but rather just the concept. The concept in this scp was this group of 9 children buried under concrete that the scp foundation was able to turn into a weapon that fired an ultra precise and incredibly destructive beam of radiation that annihilated everything in it's path.
Hopefully my description made sense and I look forward to hearing from you guys.
open"I don't sing." "But you've been singing this whole time."
When a character in a musical says that they don't sing or dance despite the fact that, since its a musical, they've been singing and dancing for a good 30 minutes worth of showtime now.
openWhy are exactly we here?
Characters that had no apparent connection have to figure out why they were put together. Usually, it turns out that they had a connection all along.
openBasement Dweller but not really
I'm looking for a trope that applies to a character that lives in the basement because they're imprisoned there. They did a bad thing and their family decided to lock them up in the basement permanently so they couldn't do it again. Do we have something like that or not really? Thanks!
openNot Even In Your Dreams
Bob is a pathetic loser who can only achieve any form of success in his dreams... except we see his dreams, and he ends up an utter failure there as well.
Even if the later installments are acclaimed at least just as well or even better, in terms of advertisement, recognition, crossover representation and so on, the earlier installments get way more focus.
Edited by Mysterium