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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openTwist For Second-Time Viewers
An adaptational plot twist that requires a viewer's familiarity with the work to function. Viewers who're familiar with the work are surprised, while first-time viewers are unaffected.
- One Monty Python live show had a version of the parrot sketch where the salesman immediately agrees that the parrot is dead and gives the customer a refund, when everyone in the audience had been expecting the Hurricane of Euphemisms from the original sketch.
- The Ben Hur remake has Arrius be completely evil, unlike the original movie where he adopts Judah as his son, allowing Judah to make a comeback.
- One adaptation of The Count Of Monte Cristo has Albert be revealed to be Edmond's son, when there's never any indication that he wasn't Fernand's son in the original book.
openWhat kind of twist is this? Print Comic
GI Joe A Real American Hero issue 35 has Buzzer take Zartan's motorcycle (which has holographic projectors to disguise it as anything) for a spin with Ripper and Torch. After Zartan finds out, we see a bus driving around with a little old lady as its only passenger and a driver who never speaks. Near the end, the bus turns out to be a helicopter with similar projectors and the driver turns out to be Zartan himself. After they return to Springfield, Ripper goes to check on the lady and discovers only her clothes and wig. Zartan comments that she wasn't what she appeared to be and comments that only a ninja master could escape from the helicopter while it was flying.
So what kind of twist is the reveal that the woman was actually a ninja master? (An analysis of her scenes seems to identify her as the Soft Master.)
openNo Title
I've seen some films (like Unstoppable) where the music stops for a moment, just before the view cuts to a threat accompanied by a Sting/Scare Chord. Is there a trope for this?
openMistaken for response
A character says something, and another character mistakes it for a response to a question.
openCellphone Cameras Everywhere
Do we have anything for when things happen and people start whipping out the phones to film it? Sometimes at risk of their safety?
openThe winner becomes one of us
A certain kind of initiation ritual, forcing to persons to fight a battle to death, the surviving one may join the organisation (or gets promoted).
openWhen a person rejects a potential love mate because of heartbreak?
Is there a trope where a person decides to reject someone who is in love with the former or a potential lover, because they are themselves heartbroken from past experiences?
openWhen a film or TV show teaches you stuff as part of the appeeal
Like in TV say: Burn Notice and spying in TV or Lillyhammer and Norway or The Knick and early 20th century medicine or The Vikings and the vikings (duh!) or Mozart in the Jungle and classical music Or in film: Rounders and 21: Bringing Down the House and gambling or John Grisham legal thrillers (The Firm, A Time to kill) and court or Moneyball and Sabremetrics or The Seceretary and BDSM relationships
A lot of these generally involve voice over too.
The trope involves that letting people into a certain field of knowledge is part of the allure of the film
openBootstrapped Meme
Like Memetic Mutation but mixed with Bootstrapped Leitmotif; where a character is associated by the audience with a theme from another work.
openBaby/Child version of an unnatural form
A character that has become a different kind of being (vampire, cyborg, etc.) at some point in their life is turned into a child. Rather than being turned into how they actually looked as a kid, they turn into a younger version of their current unnatural self. Best example I can think of this is Mortal Kombat 3 which has a finishing move called a Babality, that turns the opponent into a baby. If you do this move on a cyborg character like Cyrax, he is turned into a baby version of his current robotic self, despite being born as a normal human.
openBad ending impending
The moment that makes it clear that this story won't end well gor our protagonists.
openControversial characters? Live Action TV
I'm trying to update Series.Greys Anatomy but am not sure what trope fits these:
- Ava / Jane Doe / Rebecca Pope was divisive amongst the Grey's Anatomy fandom, especially due to the morality of her doctor falling in love with her; the whole Story Arc was seen as questionable at best, with some viewers seeing a Hard Truth Aesop in it, but Word of God is there wasn't meant to be An Aesop.
- The 2018-2019 season was seen as having too much Filler and Jo Wilson was disliked by some quarters of the fandom for having too much of a Trauma Conga Line and not being likeable enough, plus Megan Hunt (portrayed by Abigail Spencer) was someone the fans wanted to see more of, but the actor's schedule did not allow for that.
openWrong Lesson Learned
Similar to A Lesson Learned Too Well, the lesson a character takes away from a learning experience is not the one the teacher intended, often the exact opposite or at least a cynical one.
For example:
- Bob's parents drum it into Bob that Second Place Is for Losers, intending that Bob always aim for the top and get there. Bob instead doesn't participate in any competitive activity, preferring not to risk losing at all.
- Bob learns the story of The Boy Who Cried Wolf, but his take on the moral is "don't tell the same lie twice".
- Bob belongs to a church preaching that people who are wealthy ere granted their wealth by God. He decides to starts robbing banks and selling drugs, justifying himself with "once I'm rich, I'll be among the righteous".
openDesign difference outside of series?
Do we have this one already?
A character appears in a crossover or the like and their design is noticeably different from how it is in their home series, but they're still recognizable as the same character. Often applicable to a Guest Fighter.
Examples include Endermen in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate having shorter limbs than they do in Minecraft or Parappa being thicker in PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale than in his home series.
Edited by VandagyreopenIncredible Power but Dies Soon
What is the trope for when a character uses some Dangerous Forbidden Technique or undergoes Training from Hell that gives them amazing strength, speed, intelligence, or some other useful thing in a battle, but under the condition they have a small amount of time left to live? By this, I mean the time left is a matter of hours or minutes—if they can't win the battle and defeat the enemy then and there, they die in vain. (They'll die anyway even if they win, of course, but they'll have accomplished what they wanted to do.)
Is this a form of Cast from Lifespan?
Edited by ZombieAladdinopenInherently Cool Sports
A character is made to seem cooler by them partaking in certain "badass" or "extreme" sports, like riding a skateboard or snowboarding.
What I'm thinking of is when a device, especially a weapon or a magic spell, has a name that drastically understates what it actually does. The Noisy Cricket from Men in Black (a tiny pistol that can blast a hole through a steel door and whose recoil sends J flying) and a projectile used in Grrl Power that treats the human who was shot with it like they were put in a food processor that's just called an "Unwinder round". Do we have anything to this effect?