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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openTornado obstacle
Small tornadoes (with Do Not Touch the Funnel Cloud in play) in levels in platforming games. They can either be an obstacle and sent the player off-course, or can help the player by lifting them up.
openWhat the hell, me?
What's the trope for when someone does a What the Hell, Hero? to themselves?
openI have a few I was thinking of lately
These might already be tropes, I have no idea. I don't think I'm able to look it up but that seems complicated. Do most of the experts here readily know where to go most of the time:
-Hidden depths to henchman (Analyze This, an episode of Monk where a mobster was trying to get a business degree, in the cartoon Sit Down Shut Up two low-grade drug dealers talked about the value of education, various parodies of Super Mario Brothers, the play Kiss Me Kate)
-Kid-oriented works where adults in general are portrayed as the enemy (Peter Pan, Pippi Longstocking, Home Alone, Nancy Drew)
-When a name becomes coincidentally symbolic (Sextina Awkwafina in Bo Jack Horseman, Andreas Anders from James Bond's The Man with the Golden Gun became the name of an actress) because an actual celebrity comes along with that name later.
-When everyone keeps saying someone is thought to be handsome as an informed ability (Robbie Arnell in Upload, Wallace Shawn in the film Manhattan, Finn Hudson on Glee, Jason Sudeikis in Horrible Bosses)
-That the kid who is the smartest is the least desirable (what Jay encourages Manny to be Modern Family, Aliens in America, Step by Step, Cobra Kai) so kids try not to appear smart lest they appear to be nerds
-Boy brainiacs have it worse socially than girl brainiacs (Ben vs Devi ever Have I Ever where, Tessa in Suburgatory, Alex vs Manny in Modern Family, Screech vs Jessie in Saved by the Bell)
A setting that’s not an actual place but descriptive of the kind of place you’d expect in a certain region (Quahog in Family Guy is reminiscent of New England towns, Morristown in Brockmire is reminiscent of the Rust Belt)
-A title that might foreshadow or have some deeper fridge-like meaning (the film Whiplash, Dreamland in Disenchantment, Westview in Wanda Vision)
open Taunt Them While They Are Down
We have Kick Them While They Are Down, but what I'm thinking of is when someone just mocks or berates the unconscious person, or does something physical that doesn't cause harm but makes it clear that it's being done with contempt. The two instances that immediately come to mind are when Cypher chews out Morpheus during the reveal of his betrayal in The Matrix and when David is sitting near Oram and tossing rocks at him while Oram's unconscious after becoming facehugger bait in Alien: Covenant.
Do we already have something for this?
openfinding father's gun Film
So I'm looking for a trope that could describe those kind fo scenes where a son (or daughter obv) find something about their mother/father that hints to a darker side. For example, a son finding a gun in the attic and hiding just before they are found out looking around in there. Any ideas?
openIs there a trope for Jewish girls angsting over their nose?
This is a fairly common trope in works with Jewish female characters. A Serious Man and Glee have Jewish girls angsting over the size of their nose and wanting rhinoplasty.
Edited by Nepworksopenestranged cousins
Is there a trope on cousins who used to get along as kids, but became estranged over time to the point they don't get along? Not sure if the We Used to Be Friends trope applies here.
For example: Mara Wilson (the actress who played Matilda) grew up with conservative commentator Ben Shapiro (who happens to be her maternal cousin) on the same block, but the two are not on speaking terms since 2003.
openDemonic Trickery
- (Alice and Bob are masterminding a haunted house, with Alice looking disappointed.)
- Alice: This isn't working. Heck, I'll bet that run-down place on Elm is scarier, and it's both half the size of ours, and doesn't even have any actual scares!
- Bob: A) You've clearly forgotten about a certain serial killer. Even if he has been verifiably dead for over a century. And B) If that's what they're looking for, I think I might have something that'll do the trick.
- (He goes over to a chair and sits down, then immediately slumps over as if he'd fallen asleep.)
- Alice: Did you seriously just fall asleep? How is a nap going to help us?
- (She is met with (and frightened by) a combination of three overlapping sounds coming from somewhere inside the house: A cacophony of girlish shrieks; a massive, demonic roar; and an overlapping collection of various sounds and voices that can only be described as "the very fabric of the multiverse being torn apart at the metaphysical level", while also sending countless years worth of dust raining down around the duo. Once this subsides, Bob opens one eye and looks up at her with a sly ";)" kind of smirk.)
- Alice: That was you, wasn't it?
- (Barely moving a muscle, Bob sticks out his tongue in a manner that just makes his expression even cheekier. As various, lingering noises in the background suggest that a large number of people are fleeing the house wholesale.)
openExaggerated Assumed Skill
Alice has a skill Bob lacks. Bob then has a grossly exaggerated view of Alice's skill.
For example, Bob is Hopeless with Tech and goes to Alice every time he has a computer problem, which she fixes by googling the issue as she has no particular training with computers. Then when Bob's computer is held hostage by a virus, he assumes she can fix this as well, and his worldview is shattered when she says it's far beyond her and he has to take it to the shop.
Sometimes seen alongside Omnidisciplinary Scientist where a character with no scientific training assumes a character's skills are much broader than they are (e.g. assuming a heart surgeon can do brain surgery, an electrician can fix a blackout, a Greek historian can instantly translate the Illiad, etc.) or small children (e.g. "My dad can pick me up" = "My dad has Super-Strength").
openRidicoulus plan... "I'm in" Film
I think we all know this scene: A group has a new recruit, the new one stands in front of the other and lists the steps of ridicoulus or ridicoulously dangerous plan: "So you want me to ..." or "so we will ... ". Everybody else just looks and listens and in the end confirms with a simple "Yeah, that's pretty much it" or just nods or something. And the person just says: "Ok, I'm in". Recently featured in the new "The Stand" series (EP 4 and the recap at the beginning of 5), but probably also part of Oceans 1x, Mission Impossible or the Fast an Furious series
openButter's speech about beautiful sadness Western Animation
There's a trope page with the image of Butters from South Park. He's talking to emo kids telling them how he finds the sadness of being dumped by a girl beautiful because he couldn't be sad if he wasn't happy to begin with. He called it a "beautiful sadness." I forget the trope's name. Does anyone know which one I'm talking about?
openAdvice from a stranger Film
Usually happens towards the end of a story. The protagonist is at a low point, and they sit down and pour their heart out while there is a stranger nearby, possibly a bartender. After the protagonist is done, the stranger gives surprisingly good advice, which likely gives the protagonist the second wind they needed.
A specific example I can name is Billy Idol's cameo in The Wedding Singer. That made got me thinking this seems such a specific and often used thing that it should be a trope. The Kindness of Strangers is a related trope, but much more general.
open(YMMV) Angst Subversion?
Is there a specific trope wherein the audience is so used to lots of angst in a work that they expect the ending of a plot point in the story to end up angsty, but the work subverts the expectations and makes it heartwarming/cathartic/fuzzy instead, making the audience pleasantly surprised?
openObsessive Homeowner's Association
Do we have a trope for people who are excessively concerned with the appearance of other people's houses in their neighborhood? They might actually be the Homeowner's Association, or maybe they're just worried about property values going down, but either way they get really worked up when somebody else paints their house purple or has unsightly lawn ornaments. In the most extreme cases they might try to have people evicted (or killed!)
Edited by MonaNaitoopenReferenced and Renamed
When a Movie or TV Show references something popular but renames it to not look identitical. For example in Simpsons they say "Cubecraft" instead of "Minecraft", and in Steven Universe, Steven says "Tube Tube" instead of just saying the real name (You Tube).
Basically when a show parodies something but doesn't use the real name, it's really weird when that happens and i want to see more.
Is there a trope where someone comes home to find their door unlocked...even though they live alone? 'Cause I've seen it used in a lot of things (obviously in horror and thrillers but in other genres too).