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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openPsychological Projection Accusation
Bob accuses Alice of something (as with Abomination Accusation Attack). Alice counters that Bob obviously suffers from Psychological Projection and ascribes his own immoral urges on other people. Usually in conjunction with Straw Character (on Bob's part).
- Bob: Look, there goes Alice the arsonist, plotting to burn people's houses for the insurance money!Alice: Bob, what have I told you about accusing me of what you want to do yourself?Bob: I don't- How dare y- I-
- Bob: You homosexuals will burn in hell!Alice: Has the Devil been sending visions of attractive men in your head again, Bob?Bob: Every night- No! That's not what I meant!
- Bob: Alice is a traitor! I've seen her looking shifty and nervous for no reason! It has to be her!Alice: Accusing someone of treason is what a traitor would do to cover his tracks.Bob: You DARE accuse me! Arrest her! Shoot her! DO SOMETHING!
openSmart as They Need to Be
When a character's intelligence and/or maturity wildly oscillates within the same story arc.
For example, in Crash Twinsanity, Cortex is an evil genius who can create impressive machinery and has figured out how to travel between dimensions. However, a single cutscene has him expressing shock that 4 is lower than 6 for a quick joke.
openPeople hit other people with chairs
Basically what the title says. When people use chairs to hurt other people, such as in the simpsons or professional wrestling.
openIs there one where the prisoner wants to go to prison? Western Animation
This is a recurring theme, in which after a character drives them crazy, a prisoner actually wants to go to prison.
What is this trope called?
resolved Personality-Reflecting Swag Film
When a character is being introduced, and the camera focus to some personal items of his to help reveal his personality.
For instance, the characters enter a guy's house, and the camera focus on the american flag on the wall, the old pictures of army buddies, a rack with old guns on the wall... gives viewers an idea of what the character will be like.
Related, but might be a separate trope, is when a character is approaching by car, and the camera focus on dashboard toys, air fresheners and fuzzy dice inside the vehicle, without showing his face.
openEra-Associated Technology
Is there a trope similar to The Aesthetics of Technology where a particular technology is regarded as “modern” or “outdated” overall regardless of when it appears? For example, someone thinking all trains are old-fashioned, even a latest-model Maglev train? Is it something that could be discussed on that page or would it be better of as its own trope?
openPassing the credit
Do we have a good trope for the opposite of Stealing the Credit when characters try to pass the credit for doing something onto each other? Kinda like the scene in Revenge of the Sith when Anakin and Obi-Wan argue over who has to take credit for rescuing Palpatine and thus deal with the politicians.
openFlooded with Bubbles
Something I've seen before often in cartoons, though it doesn't necessarily have to be a cartoon. Some examples are covered at Domestic Appliance Disaster, but what's being talked about there isn't really what I'm getting at. The point is - the character leaves the water running for dishes or a bath or whatever. They get called away or have to leave for whatever reason and when they come back, suddenly the place is, as I say, flooded with bubbles. Often the gag is that once they manage to clear all the bubbles away, then everything is nicely sparkling clean, so it's an end benefit. But the point I'm getting at is that if they left the water running, then what should really happen is that the place would be literally flooded. Sure, there may also be a lot of bubbles, but realistically there should also be serious water damage.
Edited by JMQwilleranopenWork references their parent company/studio, but not as a TakeThat
Is there a version of Biting-the-Hand Humor when the parent company or studio is referenced but not meanly? For example, Schmigadoon! on Apple TV+ has an old-timey "Apple Store" in the town square◊:
Edited by Synchronicityopen'Unnatural' markings Videogame
Things on the body that isn't natural, rather than other things: ie, Kratos' (from God of War) white skin is from the ashes of the town, not his natural white skin. For another random example, having black hair but it isn't naturally black, its covered with soot.
(Can't really find a better medium since there's no 'general', sorry if I put it on wrong)
openDisability Comedy
A character's disabilities are used for a gag (i.e. Professor Calculus mishearing things in Tintin, Toph not reacting to what the rest of the cast sees in ATLA, Woozie running into things in GTA San Andreas, etc.).
The Unfortunate Implications are usually lessened by having the disabled person find the jokes funny when not making the jokes themselves (e.g. Toph makes blind jokes, but there are some gags like her putting up a poster wrong-side-up since she can't tell what direction it's facing).
openReal world location transported to fantasy world? Western Animation
In a behind the scenes video for the animated show The Legend of Vox Machina, the creative team mentions that they took real-life locations and mapped them to the world of Exandria. For example, Emon is based on New York, Whitestone and the Alabaster Sierras look like Yosemite, etc. Is there a trope for this?
openThe Scrappy but digetic Live Action TV
This trope is broad across multiple genres.
"The Scrappy" is a character that is hated by the audience. What is it called when the Scrappy is hated in the narrative. Examples of what I'm talking about would be Jerry from Rick and Morty, Gerry from Parks and Rec, and in theory Toby from The Office if everyone hated Toby as much as Michael hated Toby, heck even Meg from Family Guy (unless it's 'A Very Special Meg Episode').
Sort of a "We hate you because it's funny" trope. These are characters everyone hates and the audience is intended to play along to varying degrees of sarcasm.
I've checked the index of Scrappies
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ScrappyIndex
and the hate Index
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HatredTropes
So far the closest I can find are "Oblivious to Hatred" but Gerry is oblivious, but Jerry knows everyone hates him, and Toby is well aware of Michael's feelings
These characters aren't really "Hate Sinks". Regardless of the 'You act like prey but you're a predator' speech, Jerry is a character you're supposed to laugh at and Gerry is a character you're supposed to laugh at how much hate he gets.
openVillain Competence Upgrade
What's the trope to describe when a character that has undergone a Face–Heel Turn becomes more competent, or one that has undergone a Heel–Face Turn has become less competent? An example of the former is Jason Todd, who is much more competent when he's a villain.
Edited by KeyaSopenTemporarily Dead for Plot Convienience
A character dies, only to be brough Back from the Dead shortly afterwards. Usually to fuel someone's (maybe even the victim's) Character Development or to make the plot go forward.
Edited by RK93openInconvenient squeaky footboard
A character tries to quietly get away from some sort of enemy, only to step on a squeaky floorboard or something similar, making a noise and alerting the enemy to their presence.
openBlowing into gun smoke
The characters has just shot something and their gun is smoking, so they blow air from their mouth in front of the barrel to dissipate the smoke.
openArea attack does less damage the more people are hit buy it Videogame
Basically, the damage is split between the targets, meaning the more people, the less damage each person takes, so it behooves the group to all stand in the blast radius. For an example, Final Fantasy XIV has numerous bosses who do this.
opengetting fired/demoted temporarily
it’s similar to 10-Minute Retirement but instead of the character voluntarily giving up, it’s their boss/leader who fires them for a short period of an episode/book before getting them back into the job
an example is the episode “Spongebob, You’re Fired” where Mr Krabs fires Spongebob to save some money, but when the Krusty Krab starts failing, he hires him back as the fry cook.
When a character tries to justify their evil actions by saying it's what God wants, even though they're in a 'real life' universe without any proof of God.
Looking for it in a reference to a Law & Order episode about Christian fundalmentalists bombing an abortion clinic and a girl getting killed as a result. The main bad guy says she's not guility in the eyes of God, and the girl's life is worth the unborn babies 'saved' from destroying the clinic.