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.
Find a Trope:
openNatural-Born Undead
Being that resemble and may be mistaken or referred to in-universe as various forms of undead (ghosts, zombies, living skeletons), but were never human (or any equivalent species), didn't die, and may even be natural life forms that can reproduce.
An examples of each:
- (Not) Ghost: The Real Ghostbusters refer to most spiritual entities as "ghost", even when they "have always been ghosts" as Egon once says.
- (Not) Zombie: The "specimens/zeds" in Killing Floor are evocative of zombies, and characters call them as such (even "zeds" is just short for "zombie"), but are actually monstrous Artificial Humans.
- (Not) Skeleton: Papyrus and Sans in Undertale look like human skeletons, but , and them being brother implies . When Papyrus saw a human item with skeleton imagery (a skull on a pirate flag), he concludes that humans evolved from skeletons.
There's occasional mention to this idea on Our Ghosts Are Different and Our Spirits Are Different, but they don't link to another trope or mention things besides ghosts.
Vaguely related to An Astral Projection, Not a Ghost and something of the opposite of Mistaken for Undead and Technically-Living Zombie.
openMundane imagery for fantastic things
Do we have a trope for when something bizarre and fantastic is deliberately styled to resemble something mundane? For example in Loki, the extradimensional organization which controls the timelines uses imagery from boring office buildings as a humorous juxtaposition. Or in Good Omens, heaven also resembles an office building, complete with paperwork. Or in shrek, where the fairy godmother's style of making potions looks exactly like a boring factory
openYouth Makes Hair Longer
You know how sitcoms and stuff will have flashbacks or flashforwards? It seems like the younger versions of characters always have longer hair than their present selves. Flash forwards often show the men to be balding, and the women with shorter, more conservative hairstyles a la Hillary Clinton and similar.
Is there a trope for this?
open"I'm too old for you"
A May–December Romance is refused by the older person on the basis of them being too old (rather than the younger refusing the older one's advances).
openReading the books fanfic Web Original
Do we have a trope for fanfictions where the various characters read about their own adventures (often with a mix of characters familiar with the adventures, and those who are not). Usually includes comical reactions to the various adventures and mishaps the main characters get into.
openStock reactions?
I'm looking for a trope where characters go "boo" as a reaction to someone they dislike without necessarily throwing anything at that person (it's not Produce Pelting) and the trope where characters going "yay!" or "hell yeah!" at someone they like.
Are there tropes for these stock reactions?
open"Don't think too hard about it"
Do we have a trope for people being told in-universe not to think about something too hard?
openNot so Special among his peers Live Action TV
Bob is The Smart Guy (or any other stereotype) of the group. Then, one episode shows Bob among another group - his family or work friends - and he is, compared to them, the dumb one (or the equivalent). Usually, if Alice is the dumb one of the main characters, someone will say something like "Oh my god, you're their Alice!"
openAlways the man driving
Is there a trope for how when a couple are in a car, it is most often the man who is driving?
openKnight Mooks? Videogame
Do nameless, faceless, questionably-human mooks identified as knights go under Black Knight regardless of armor color, or Monster Knight?
openArt of Head-Turning Beauty
So, it's a Head-Turning Beauty of something more... artful. For example, when a Blacksmith sees something Forged by Gods, and is absolutely captivated by its beauty. Or maybe Master Swordsman sees The Greatest Style, Infinity +1 Sword or Signature Move. Maybe Fashionista sees someone who is So Beautiful, It's A Curse. I think you get the point. So, is there a trope for that?
Edited by BladeDownopenRailroading or ButThouMust?
Railroading or But Thou Must!?
- Golden Sun: In this game and its sequel the player can reject the Venus Djinn Flint(/Echo) from joining the team. The Player can keep rejecting him, until he forces himself onto the team. This gives the player the much-needed tutorial on the Djinn, and shows the need for party members.
Or... But Thou Must! used to induce Railroading?
openConvenient Contest Prize
When a contest or game show prize up for grabs is conveniently what the hero (or villain) needs for their plans.
openCharacter is haunted by someone who is dead
Is there a trope where someone has recurring nightmares of someone who died, especially a villainous character?
openSomeone saves the heroes... just to get laughed at
Trope I'm looking for: When someone saves some people, he suddenly receives the last reception he would expect, being ridiculed (while this aspect is what I'm looking for in this example, I'm fine with any similar tropes which don't fit all the criteria)
Example: The 6th episode of BoBoiBoy Galaxy note (the soft reboot series to BoBoiBoy) is titled "Fang to the Rescue", as it features the comeback of The Lancer of the hero group, the Human Alien Fang with shadow powers, who returned to space between the events of the original series and the Galaxy series. He (re)made his debut by answering his friends' Alarm SOS when they were under attack.
After taking a minute to take out the incoming enemies (although more of them were yet to come), he approaches his old friends and says, "What's up? You guys need some help?" in a slightly smug, jeering tone. However, they suddenly laugh at him instead, much to Fang's confusion. Then the camera zooms out to reveal Fang wearing what appears to be a mushroom-like helmet. He still fails to see what's so funny about it, claiming his headgear to be the latest fashion trend (likely among aliens). (Is there a trope for alien fashions being weird?)
note He further explains that he was on a solo flight training when he got their SOS and that was why he was wearing the safety helmet. They eventually get over their laughs before more enemies started swarming (they were space mosquitoes after all).
Video reference, turn on English captions: provided timestamp of 14:50
Edited by BlackFaithStaropenDeliberate Wangst Live Action TV
Currently YMMV.Friends has this:
- Wangst: Deliberately used and Played for Laughs with Ross in season five, following his Trauma Conga Line in which he gets divorced for the second time in five years, gets evicted and loses his job due to his anger issues. He has a Heel Realization when Janice, of all people, says she can't put up with him because he's too whiny.
But if it's used deliberately, it's not an audience reaction, it's a trope in the show. Is there a trope that fits, or could it be moved to the main work page with "In-Universe, this is everyone's reaction to..."?
is there a trope for this
("you're going down, twinkle toes")